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LETTERS 

TO 

JOHN AIKIN, M. D. 

ON HIS VOLUME OP 

VOCAL POETRY: 

AND ON HIS 

" ESSAYS ON SONG-WRITING; 

WITH A COLLECTION OF SUCH 

ENGLISH SONGS 

AS ARE MOST 
EMINENT FOR POETICAL MERIT." 
Published originally by himself in the year 1772; and re-published 
' by R. H. Evans, in the year 1S10. 






BY JAMES PLTJMPTRE, B.D. 

FELLOW OF CLARE-HALL, CAMBRIDGE. 



TO WHICH ARE ADDED 

A COLLECTION OF SONGS 

REVISED AND ALTERED BY THE EDITOR ; 
WITH SOME 

ORIGINAL SONGS. 



To sway the judgment, while he sooths the ear ; 
To curb mad passion in its wild career ; 
To wake by sober touch the useful lyre, 
And rule, with reason's rigour, fancy's fire : 
Be this the Poet's praise. ' Mason's Mdsjscs. 

CAMBRIDGE: 

PRINTED BY F. HODSON, 
SOLD BY F. C. AND J. RIVINGTON, NO. 62^ST. PAUL'S 
CHURCH-YARD, LONDON; AND J. DEIGHTON, AND 
J. NICHOLSON, CAMBRIDGE. 



1811, 



PR if ST 



3-V^ 





CONTENTS. 



PREFACE. 



„ese Letters submitted to a Friend, Page xiii. On making 
quotations and using Italics, p. xiv. On making references 
to Books, xxi. On altering Songs, xxvii. Mr. Dibdin, xxix. 
On the Poetry of the Author, xxx. 



LETTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Reasons for undertaking this work, Page 1. On the Influence 
of Poetry, p. 8. On the importance of forming a correct 
Taste, 16. On Indecency and Licentiousness, 18. On 
Heathenism, 23. On altering Songs, 25. Sources of Vocal 
Poetry, 27. 



LETTER II. 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 

On Ballads, p. 29. On Pastoral Songs, 32. On Nature and 
Art and the Love of Novelty, 32. On Reality in Poetry, 34. 
On the state of Morals among the lower Classes, 38. Re- 
quisites in Pastoral or Rural Poetry, 42. Review of the 
Ballads and Pastoral Songs in Vocal Poetry : 45.— Despair, 
50, 51. Dying for love, 51. 53. 57. 58. 63. Predestination, 
51.55. Superstition, 52.58.59.63. 



ly 



CONTENTS. 
POSTSCRIPT. 



Review of Ballads, &c. in Mr. Evans's Publication; 57. On 
comparing human beings to Angels, 63. Lines from the 
Lady of the Lake, do. 

BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 



I. The Sailor's Love's Consolation 


Original 


65 


II. Edgar and Ella 


- 


Orig. 


68 


III. The Token 


• 




70 


IV. The New Sir John Barleycorn 


. 


0. 


72 


V. The Peasant 


> 




78 


VI. The Labourer's Welcome Home 


- 




80 


VII. Young William, the Labourer 


- 


0. 


82 


VIII. Patty 


. 




84 


IX. Love and Prudence 


• 




86 


X. Estimate of Rural Happiness 


- 




89 


XI. The Happy Man 


- 




90 


XII. The Seasons - 


- 




91 


XIII. Peace 


• « 




92 



LETTER III. 

ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

The subjects of Moral Songs, p. 93. The Epicurean System 
of ethics, 94. Review of the Moral and Miscellaneous 
Songs in Vocal Poetry, 99. Some remarks on a work called 
Poetry for Children, 104. Note. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 



I. Virtue 

II. Justice 

III. Adversity 

IV. Disappointment 



Page. 

107 

108 

109 

111 



CONTENTS. 






V 

Pa»e 


V. To-morrow - 


- 




114 


VI. The Days that are gone 


- 




116 


VII. The Winter Friend 


- 




118 


VIII. Gratitude - 


- 




119 


IX. The Patron - 


- 


o. 


120 


X. Health 


- 




124 


XI. Proverbs of Threescore 


- 




126 


XII. The Old Man's Wish - 


- 


0. 


128 


XI IT. The Old xMan's Comforts 


- 




130 


XIV. The Affectionate Heart 


- 




132 


XV. Smiles and Tears 


- 




134 


XVI. The Smile of Benevolence 


- 




136 


XVII. The Smileand the Tear 


. 




137 


XVIII. Beauty - 


- 




138 


XIX. The British Vine 


- 


0. 


139 


XX. My Arbour - 


- 


o. 


140 


XXI. A Friend; or, My Book 


- 


o. 


143 


XXII. The Summer Evening 


- 




145 


XXI II. Ned Brace 


- 




145 


XXIV. A Sailor's Pay 


- 




147 


XXV. The Beacon 


- 




148 


XXVI The Sentinel 


,. 


o. 


149 


XXVII The Bugle Horn - 


- 


o. 


152 


XXVIII. Scotia's Glens 


- 




154 


XXIX. My Dear Native Isle 


- 


o. 


155 


XXX. The Horse - 


- 


0. 


159 


XXXI. The Hare Hunt 


- 




162 


XXXII. Humanity's Cot 


- 




165 


XXXIII. The British Bow 


- 


o. 


167 


XXXIV. The Archers' Bugle 


- 


o. 


169 


^XXV. Address to A Fly - 


- 


o. 


171 


x XXVI. The Sea 


. 


o. 


172 


X XXV 1 1. Winter 


. 




175 


X XXVIII. The Dying Negro 


. 




177 


X XXIX. The Negro's Exultation 


- 


0. 


178 


'H, Music - 


- 




180 


a 2 









VI CONTENTS. 

LETTER IV. 

ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

Quotations from Essay on Song-Writing, p. 181. Milton's 
Comus: — Lax morality of poets, Do. Bacchanalian Songs, 
182. Quotations from Dr. Aikin's Letters on Poetry, 184. 
Quotation from Dr. Aikin's Letters to his Son, 185. Ac- 
count of Drinking Songs introduced into The Collection by 
J. Plumptre, 187. Praise of water-drinking, 188. The 
Priest of Bacchus, 5, 1S3, 189. Anecdote of Burns, 189. 
Note. Convivial Parties not averse to moral Songs, 190. 
Quotation from Marraion, do. Review of the Convivial 
Songs in Vocal Poetry, do. Dr. Doddridge's motto and 
Epigram upon it, 191. On Life, Do. On Youth, Do. 
The Heart and the Senses, 192. Use of time, 193. Rural 
Life, 194. Quotation from Cowper, 195. Anacreontic on 
New Principles, 196. Instructions to be learned from the 
works of Nature, 197. Hurd's Cowley, 199. 

CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

Page. 

I. Merry and Wise - . - O. 202 

II. The Honest Fellow 204 

III. Aristippus - 206 

IV. Laugh and grow fat - - 208 

V. Friendship and Love - - - 210 

VI. The Sentimentalist - 211 

VII. Mirth - - - 213 

VIII. The Shortness of Life - - 214 

IX. A Dehortation from Drinking - - 214 

X. Anti-Anacreontic - 216 

XI. TheDrinkin', O. - - - 217 

XII. Friendship, Love, and Truth - - 219 



CONTENTS. Vll 

LETTER V. 

ON AMATORY SONGS. 

On Love and Marriage, p. 221. Quotations from Dr. Ai kin's 
Works, 224. Review of the Amatory Songs in Vocal 
Poetry, 234. Idolatry, 235. Death-bed Thoughts, 237. 
Lord Lyttelton's Prayer to Venus, 238. Another Prayer to 
the same, 239. Wine and Music, 238. Extravagant Love, 
240. 248. 250. 260. Dying for Love, 240. 243. Prayer to 
Cupid, 241. 245. Quotation from Swift, 242. Conduct on 
the death of those we hold dear, 243. Chastity, 244. 245. 
249. 261. 263. The value of Love, 234. 245. 259. Un- 
lawful Love, 245. 253. 256. 261. 270. Wisdom, 246. 254. 
Use of the word Divine, 247* 248. On the application of 
the term Angel, 248. 249. On the writings of Lord Roches- 
ter, 249. 268. Filial Duty, 252. Prayer to Fortune, 255. 
On what are called Amiable Weaknesses, 257. Song: Love 
and Reason, 259. On Congreve's Writings, 264. On Fate, 
the Influence of the Stars, &c. 265. 274. The Wits of 
Charles the Second's Days, 268. Quotation from Cowper, 
Do. On Honour, 271. Quotation from Hey on Duelling, 
272. General Character of the Songs in Vocal Poetry, 275. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

Review of some of the Passionate and Descriptive, and of the 
Witty and Ingenious Songs in Mr. Evans's Publication, 277. 
On Sobriety, Do. Lord Chesterfield, 279. Song: Answer 
to " Mistaken fair, lay Sherlock by," Do. On an Address 
to Sleep, 280. 

AMATORY SONGS. 

Pag-e. 

I. Man and Woman - - - 282 

II. Woman • . • . 283 

III. Love 285 

IV. True Love - 283 



via 



CONTENTS. 



V. The Breath of Love 

VI. Love 

VII. The Riches of Love 

VIII. Hearts 

IX. Connubial Love 

X. Do. - 

XI. The Good Husband 

XII. The Good Wife 

XIII. Beauty 

XIV. Mary's Evening Sigh - 

XV. The Damsel's Lamentation 

XVI. Mary The Maid of Buttermere 

XVII. My Mistress 

XVIII. The Happy Pair 

XIX. The Wife's Ditty 

XX. The Wife's Invocation 

XXI. Conjugal Duty 

XXII. The Parent 

XXIII. Few Happy Matches 

XXIV. John and Susan 

XXV. Do. Part II. 

XXVI. Wife, Children and Friends 

XXVII. Love at Fifty 

XXVIII. The Song of Seventy 

XXIX. My Husband 

XXX. My Mary - 



0. 


289 


o. 


290 


o. 


293 


0. 


295 




297 


o. 


299 


o. 


300 




302 




303 




305 




306 




308 




308 




309 


0. 


311 


o. 


313 




315 




318 




319 


0. 


321 




324 



CONTENTS* IX 



LETTER VI. 

ON THE SONGS CONTAINED IN THE 

SUPPLEMENT TO MR. EVANS'S PUBLICATION ; 

WITH A POSTSCRIPT ON THE SONGS IN THE 

LITERARY MISCELLANY. 



Review of (he Songs, p. 327. The thirst of the soul, 328. 
Application of a passage in Julius Caesar, Do. Bishop 
Home's applications, 329. Byrom, his Hint to Christian 
Poets, 330. Sir John Hawkins on Pastoral Images, 332. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

The Literary Miscellany, 336. Quotation from the Adver- 
tisement, Do. Instances of Violent and Enthusiastic Passion 
in that work, 338. Instances of passages which militate 
with legitimate preceptive rules of conduct, or which are 
violations of just moral sentiment, 341. On Age and Youth, 
Do. Song on Do. 342. On (he Ballad of The Wanton Wife 
of Bath, 344. Observations on the character of Mary 
Magdalene, Quotation from Dr. Lardner, 347. Jonas Han- 
way, 348. Note. The Case of the Thief on the Cross, 
Quotation from Bishop Home, Do. Correction of a Song 
in one of the Author's former volumes, 354. Songs in The 
Literary Miscellany taken from the Author's Collection, 
Do. On Hymns to The Virgin, 357. Indecency, Do. In- 
stances of Levity, Vulgarity and Nonsense, Do. Instances of 
Bacchanalian Songs, Do. On War, and Instances of 
Songs favouring false notions of Honour and Glory, 359. 
Hunting Song, Do. On the Songs in The Elegant 
Extracts. 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER VII. 

ON INGENIOUS, WITTY AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 

On Ingenious, &c. songs, p. 351. On the Pan, 352. Defini- 
tion, Do. Quotation froin Sulton's Sermon, Bo. Note. 
From The School for Scandal, 370. From The Duenna, 
Do. The Paronomasia, or Serious Pun, 372. On Parody, 
375. Burlesque, 389. On Comic Rhyme, 399. Butler's 
Hudibras, Do. On The Treasury of Wit, Do. Note. Quo- 
tations from Hudibras, 401. Quotations from Swift, 402. 
On the Comic Songs of the present Day, 405. 

EPIGRAMS. 

Paje. 

I. Footeand Quin - - - 363 

II. The Siuging Man - - O. 364 

III. By Dr. Gould on his Marriage - O. 365 

IV. Reply to Do. ... o. 365 

V. By Isaac Hawkins Brown upon Himself - 365 

VI. On Dr. Hill's Petition of the Letter I. to Garrick 366 

VII. On the Beggar 36S 

VIII. Jack's Forgetfulness - - 366 

IX. Hall's Poverty - - - 367 

X. The Obligation 367 

XI. The Dunce ... 367 

XII. The Short Journey ... 367 

XIII. Jack's Penetration 368 

XIV. Varus's Hatred of Baseness - - 368 

XV. Mutual Pity - - 368 

XVI. The Force of Reading - - 368 

XVII. Wit 368 

XVIII. The Lean Nags - - - 368 

XIX. Epitaph on A Miser - - - 369 

XX. Epigram on an Epigram - - 369 

XXI. On Dr. Hill's Farces - - 404 



CONTENTS. XI 

SONGS. 





Page 




371 




373 




375 




377 




378 




379 




380 




383 




384 




386 


o. 


389 


o. 


391 


0. 


394 


0. 


396 



I. By Trudge, in Inkle and Yarico 

II. Collins's Sally - 

III. Ode on The Spring 

IV. The Good Wife 

V. Echo Song - 

VI. Yesterday, To-day, and To-morrow 

VII. Good-b'ye and How-d'ye-do 

VIII. The Worthy Lover - 

IX. The Black Spectacles 

X. Friendship - 

XI. Effusion to A Candle snuffed too low 

XII. The Dumb Beggar 

XIII. The Friends and The Oyster 

XIV. The 'Tis Buts 



LETTER VIII. 

ON SACRED SONGS. 

Quotation from the Preface to Dr. Watts's Horse Lyricae, 408. 
Do. from Mrs. Barbauld's Thoughts ou The Devotional 
Taste, 409. 

SACRED SONGS. 

Page. 

I. Jubilee Hymn ... 411 

II. Ode on his Majesty's Illness in 1789 - . 413 

III. on Recovery - - 416 

IV. on the same occasion - 418 

V. Thanksgiving Hymn on the same - • 419 

VI. I will Praise the Lord at all times - 421 

VII. The Thunderstorm 422 



XU CONTENTS. 









Page. 


VIII. Charity 


- 


' - 


425 


IX. A Reflection - 


- 


- 


427 


X. The Death of the Righteous 


- 


- 


429 


XI. The Christian's Resurrection 


- 


- 


430 


XII. Evening Hymn 


- 


- 


432 


XIII. Do. 


- 


- 


O. 433 


XIV. Hymn for Sheep-shearing 


- 




O. 435 


XV. Christ in the Manger 


- 


- 


436 


XVI. The Redeemer 


- 


- 


437 


XVII. The Day of Judgment 


- 


- 


439 


XVIII. Before Jehovah's Awful Th 


rone 


- 


440 


XIX. The Lord's Prayer 


- 


- 


441 


XX. God exalted above all Praise 


- 


- 


443 



Conclusion : The Example of Spencer the Poet adduced, 445. 
Dedication to his Hymns quoted, t 446. 



Index I. Of the first Lines of the Songs Quoted or Cri- 
ticised - - - « 449 

Index II. Of the first Lines of the Songs Introduced into 
the Volume - 459 

Index III. Of the Names of the Authors of the Songs and 
Epigrams Introduced • 465 

List of Books Published by The Author - 468 



PREFACE. 



Although the first of the following Letters 
was intended as an Introduction to this Volume, 
and the motives which induced the Author to 
undertake it are there detailed ; yet, after a lapse 
of some months, and on completion of the work, 
it appears to be necessary to say somewhat far- 
ther on laying it before the public. 

The Author being unwilling, in a matter 
which he considered of so much importance, 
to depend wholly upon his own judgment, 
submitted these Letters in manuscript to a friend, 
in whose opinion, both literary and moral, he 
placed the greatest confidence. It is not to be 
supposed that this friend agreed with him in 
every particular; nor that the author, on his 
part, should acquiesce in every objection and 
remark made upon them. The result, how- 
ever, was in favour of the publication of them, 
and many and material alterations have been 
made in consequence. What these have been 
b 



XIV PREFACE. 

it is not necessary either in general or in par- 
ticular to inform the Reader, farther than as 
they appear in one or two instances in the 
course of the Letters. But, upon the manner 
in which the Author had made his quotations 
from different works, and particularly those of 
Dr. Aikin, by printing some of the passages in 
Italics, for the purpose of calling the Reader's 
attention to them, he thinks it right to state 
some of the remarks of his friend : 

u I consider the use of inverted commas as 
clearly declaring that Quotation is intended or 
professed. When they are used, therefore, I 
can admit of no variation which alters (or can 
alter) the sense ; whether the Quoter thinks 
the alteration material or not. Of this he is 
not to judge, after he once undertakes to copy 
or quote. From that time, his only business is 
to make his Copy agree with the Original. 
Now, not only Words, but also Stops, Capitals, 
Parentheses, and Italics, affect the Sense ; or 
are liable to do so. Therefore these are all to 
be copied ; and none to be added. The chief 
difficulty that I am aware of, is this : — a 
Quoter wishes to shew, by Italics (or Under- 
lining*), what particular words, of those 

* It may be right, perhaps, to state, for the information of 



PREFACE. XV 

quoted, he wants to have chiefly noticed by the 
Reader. I allow, that I wish there were some 
short mode of thus drawing the attention of the 
Reader : but I cannot allow, that, on account 
of the inconvenience, it is either safe or honest 
to underline (in copying) what is not underlined 
in the original. It is not safe, as to the con- 
veying of our own meaning : for, as there may 
already be some Italics in the Original, no 
Reader can possibly tell which words were 
underlined in the Original in order to fix a 
meaning, and which were underlined by the 
Quoter in order to draw attention. Hence 
great confusion. And it is not honest towards 
the original Author ; because the Quoter's 
Underlinings may easily cause the words 
quoted to bear a sense different from that 
intended by the Author. Our ingenuity, 
therefore, must be exercised, not in defending 
the too common practice of additional under- 
lining by the Quoter, on account of the dif- 
ficulty he lies under, but in devising (either 
generally or in each single case) how to draw 



persons not conversant with the press, that an author usually 
marks those words, with a line drawn with his pen underneath, 
(thus,) which he wishes to be printed in Italics, and with two 
lines", (thus,) those which he wishes to be printed in 

CAPITALS. J. P» 



XVI PREFACE. 

the Reader's attention to the proper part of the 
words quoted, without recurring to this con- 
founding and dishonest mode, I doubt not 
you have heard proposed such sentences as the 
following, by way of illustrating the force (or, 
I may say, the language) of Emphasis. 
" Will you walk to church with me to-day ?" 
To which at least six different senses are given, 
by underlining at different times the six words 
Willy you, walk, church, me, to-day. If the 
author under-lined walk and no other word, the 
question is about walking or going by some 
other conveyance. If a Quoter underlines 
church, he raises the question whether the walk 
is to be to church or to some other place. If he 
even retains the author's underlining of walk, 
he still (by adding that of church) perverts the 
meaning : and it is impossible for the Reader 
to tell, by the mere words quoted, which was 
the underlining of the Author, which of the 
Quoter. Therefore he cannot know the 
meaning of the words ; except from some other 
help. Where the passage is such that you 
cannot conveniently quote it, that is, copy it ; 
all I require is that you do not profess to quote 
(therefore, that you do not use inverted com- 
mas, or any thing tantamount), and that, in 
giving the substance, as far as you want it for 



PREFACE. XV11 

your purpose, you do this honestly ; not sup- 
pressing what appears likely to affect the point 
in question." 

Having been always accustomed to add 
Italics myself, and seen them in the works of 
others, especially in Reviews, I pleaded pre- 
cedent to my friend, and said that I thought the 
matter was so wel] understood as not to mislead. 
To this my friend replies, 

" I am sorry we do not agree about Italics 
added by the Quoter. You speak of it as an 
established mode. I own it is (in my judg- 
ment) far too frequent : but, I think, some to 
whom 1 have stated my ideas have allowed the 
practice to be wrong. It is, with me, clearly 
and decidedly wrong, beyond the power of 
authority or custom so to establish it as to make 
it right ; though I fancy I have been one of the 
most obedient of men, through life, to things 
established, — particularly in language: — and 
Italics (we agree) are a part of language. You 
say " it appears to me to be sufficiently under- 
stood not to mislead." My grand objection is, 
that it does mislead, or may do it. If such rule 
on this point be not observed, how should you, 
or any reader of the few words I have just 
quoted from your letter, know whether the two 
words were underlined by you or by me ? 
b 2 



XVill PREFACE. 

Yet the sentence has a different effect, if j/ou 
axe supposed to have laid your stress upon the 
words, from that which it will have if only / am 
supposed to call your attention to those words. 
Therefore the Underlining mislead, or may 
mislead. For, if the rule be not considered as 
taking place, the reader must guess whether 
you or I underlined the words. Stronger in- 
stances might easily be adduced : — as, from 
the sentence already given, " Will you walk" 
&c." 

" Italics are not uncommon in books. An 
Author (suppose) writes a sentence, and puts a 
word in Italics. A Quoter gives (we will hope) 
the Author' 's Italics ; but he adds some of his 
own. What reader can tell which of these Italics 
is by the Author, which by the Quoter ? I readily 
allow there are many instances in which I 
should feel no doubt in my own mind, that the 
Italics were by the Quoter. But there are 
others in which I think I might defy any man 
to make a well-founded guess, whether it was 
Author or Quoter. Therefore the practice 
misleads ; or, in its nature, must ever be liable 
to mislead. I once talked on the subject with 
the late Rev. Mr. Twining, well known amongst 
literary persons, and much, (and, I believe, 
deservedly) esteemed by them ; known also, in 
particular, by his Translation of Aristotle's 



PREFACE. XIX 

Treatise on Poetry, with very copious Notes. 
Be was inclined to allow a Quoter to add 
Italics. I believe I asked him, whether, if 
he met with Italics in a quotation, he should 
suppose them put by the Author or by the 
Quoter; and that he answered by the Quoter. 
Afterwards, in the Monthly Review for De- 
cember 1790, I saw a sermon of his re- 
viewed ; and, in a quotation of eleven lines, 
eight words (or expressions) in Italics, and no 
others. I looked into the printed Sermon, and 
there found the same eight in Italics, and no 
others. Had Mr. Twining read (as an indif- 
ferent person) this review of his own sermon, he 
would (according to his own mode of judging) 
have been misled eight times in eleven lines. 
1 am not sure that I should not wish your Work 
suppressed, rather than printed with this blemish, 
as I call it." 

On farther reflection, these remarks appeared 
to me to be so very just, and to bear with so 
much force upon works of controversy in par- 
ticular, that I thought it but justice to the 
author whose works I criticised to remove the 
additional underlinings which I had inserted, 
and to leave those only which were the author's. 
In doing this, I found great difficulties present 
themselves, and endeavoured to form some rules 



XX PREFACE. 

by which I might regulate my quotations ; but 
this required more time and consideration than 
I could give the subject; and all that I have 
been able to do in the present instance has been 
to adopt such modes of calling the reader's 
attention to particular words and passages as the 
case seemed best to admit ; sometimes by repe- 
tition, and sometimes by printing particular 
words in Italics, when I was not using inverted 
commas, the professed marks of quotation or 
faithful copying. But, as it is more difficult 
to remedy a fault than to guard against it in the 
first instance, I feel some apprehension that 1 
may not have done this effectually in all cases. 
I can only say, that it has been my intention in 
every instance to represent my author faithfully, 
and that I re-compared my quotations with the 
originals, both in the manuscript and in cor- 
recting the proofs. Had I been aware of my 
friend's objections to this very common prac- 
tice before I began my work, it would have 
saved me much additional labour. It may be 
remarked, however, that in making quotations 
from Scripture, as there are no Italics there, 
except the small added words, (and which no 
one I believe ever distinguishes in quoting,) if 
Italics are introduced by the Quoter, they will, 
of course, be understood as being his. 



PBEFACE. XXI 

In quoting from The Literary Miscel- 
lany, I have, indeed, deviated from the rule 
of strict copying, in having begun each line 
with a capital Letter, as is usual in poetry ; it 
being a deviation, in the first instance, in the 
Editor of that work, in not introducing capitals, 
except at the beginning of a sentence, and in 
proper names, as in prose. Had that work been 
original, I should have thought it my duty to 
follow the author in this particular^ apprising 
the reader that it was a faithful copy. 

There is another practice very common with 
authors in these days, which is, in my estima- 
tion, as great a fault as that of not strictly 
accurate quotation ; and that is the not giving 
references to the authors, and the places in 
their works whence quotations are made. It 
frequently prevents the reader's turning to them 
to see if they are faithfully given, and to con- 
sult the context to ascertain whether the pas- 
sages are intended by the authors to bear the 
meaning attributed to them by the Quoter. 
The motive with the author for this omission is 
frequently to spare himself trouble at the time of 
writing, in referring to the passages ; espe- 
cially when scripture is quoted from memory. 
But Jiow often does it happen that the reader 
wishes to refer to the passages, and how often 



XX11 PREFACE. 

does the quoting an excellent passage from 
some author, before unknown to the reader, 
make him wish to see, not only what he says 
upon the subject in question, but to read the 
whole of his works. He is precluded from 
both of these, if neither the passage nor even 
the author be mentioned. To many valuable 
writings have I been introduced by a single 
quotation ; and many disappointments have I 
suffered, and to much trouble have I frequently 
been put, for want of a reference, or from an 
imperfect one. But the Printer is, I believe, 
sometimes the person in fault. His object is 
to produce what he considers to be a neat, 
clear page to the purchaser who takes up the 
work in the bookseller's shop ; and lie wishes, 
as much as possible, to avoid all notes, 
references and figures. But, as soon as the 
reader becomes interested in a work, and wishes 
to refer from one part to the other, or to another 
author, the deficiency is distressing. Having 
mentioned this subject, it were injustice to 
Mr. Hodson, the Printer of this Volume, not to 
make my acknowledgements for the great rea- 
diness with which he has acceded to all my 
wishes in giving References, Titles, Indexes 
and Contents. 

It will not, I trust, be deemed invidious if I 



PREFACE. XX111 

illustrate these positions by instances drawn 
from a late publication, which I have read 
while my thoughts were employed upon the 
subject ; and when, with my pencil in my hand, 
I noted the passages as they occurred. The 
Work which I mean is Mrs. Hannah More's 
PRACTICAL PIETY, from the very supe- 
rior merits of which it is by no means my inten- 
tion to detract, any farther than by saying that 
I consider the manner in which the quotations 
are made as in some measure diminishing the 
value and utility of a work which is calculated 
to produce extensive and important effects : a 
work which teaches the most exalted, yet sober, 
piety ; piety at once pure and practical, and 
stated in the most engaging manner, in language 
at once chaste, forcible and beautiful. 

I shall arrange the instances under different 
heads ; and, though I could point out many 
under each, yet I shall make a few suffice. 
And, that the reader's attention may not be 
divided between the inverted commas made use 
of by Mrs. H. M. and others introduced hy my- 
self to mark the passage I would quote, I shall 
employ brackets [ ] to point out what are the 
passages which I myself quote, and the inverted 
commas are to be considered as Mrs. M's. 
The first instances shall be of passages altered. 



XXIV PREFACE. 

Vol. i. p. 60. First Edition, is the following 
sentence [only those who, as our great Foet says, 
are " reformed altogether," are converted.] As no 
reference is given, I suppose that [our great Poet] 
means Shakspeare ; and that this is a reference 
to Hamlet, Act ill. S. 2. where Hamlet is 
giving his instructions to the Players, and, after 
he lias mentioned a fault which he has seen in 
some players, one of them says [I hope, we 
have reform' d that indifferently with us.] Ham- 
let replies [O, reform it altogether.] In this 
case, as the intended quotation is not accurate, 
the author had, perhaps, better have put in the 
margin See Hamlet, A. iii. S. 2. 

P. 199. [We should suffer long and be kind, 
and so far from u seeking that which is another's," 
we should not even " seek our own."] 

This is, no doubt, intended as a quotation 
from I Cor. xiii. 4, 5. [Charity suffereth long, 
and is kind ; charity envieth not ; charity 
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not 
behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is 
not easily provoked, thinkefh no evil.] To 
me it appears that the best way would have 
been, to refer openly to the passage, and to 
make no use of inverted commas, unless with 
words exactly copied from the chapter, if any 
had been so. 



PREFACE. XXV 

V r ol. 2. p. 55. [When therefore we would 
not condescend " to take the lowest place, to 
think others better than ourselves, to be cour- 
teous and pitiful," on the true Scripture ground,] 
&c. Here the words [to take] &c. to [pitiful] 
are given as one continued quotation, and 
without any reference. I apprehend that they 
are taken from the three following passages of 
Scripture. [When thou art bidden of any man 
to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, 
lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden 
of him; And he that bade thee and him, come 
and say to thee, Give this man place ; and 
thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 
But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in 
the lowest room;] &c. Luke xiv. 8 — 10. 
[Let nothing be done through strife or vain- 
glory ; but in lowness of mind let each esteem 
other better than themselves.] Phil. ii. 3. 
[Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous :} 
J Peter iii. 8. 

Many instances occur of evident quotations 
where neither inverted commas nor references 
are given. And though these instances may 
occur where the words are used, not for autho* 
fity-) but on account of the force or beauty of 
the phrase or sentiment, yet much of this is 
lost by its not appearing that a passage is a 
c 



XXVI PREFACE. 

quotation, apt quotation being one of the greatest 
ornaments of writing. 

Vol. i. p. 151, is this sentence, [But we 
know not what spirit we are of.] This is evi- 
dently taken from our Saviour's reproof to his 
disciples, when they would have commanded 
[fire to come down from heaven] to [consume] 
the inhospitable Samaritans, [Ye know not what 
manner of spirit ye are of.] Luke ix. 55. 

P. 166. [But as we cannot find out the Al- 
mighty to perfection,] &c. Here the words 
[find out the Almighty to perfection,] are evi- 
dently taken, though with variation, from 
Job xi. 7. [Can'st thou find out the Almighty 
unto perfection ?] 

P. 172. [It is there we must worship him, if 
we would worship him in spirit and in truth.] 
This plainly comes from Joan iv. 24. [God is 
a spirit: and they that worship him, must 
worship him in spirit and in truth.] 

Of evident and professed quotations, without 
the author's name being given, the instances 
are numerous. There is one at p. 1 16 of Vol. i. 
Vol. ii. p. 66, u an admirable French writer" 
is mentioned. P. 70. a saying respecting 
Bossuet and Fenelon is given, but not the name 
of the speaker, nor where it is to be met with. 

The instances also of Names of Authors 



PREFACE. XXVU 

being given, without reference to the work or 
volume, are numerous. At p. 236. 266. and 
274. of vol. 2. the mere names of Bishop 
Jeremy Taylor, Archbishop Tillotson, and 
Bishop Hall are thus given ; all of whose 
works are voluminous. 

Another subject upon which my friend has 
favoured me with his sentiments is 

The Alterations which I have mads 
in Songs. 

He thinks that the word Revised in the title 
pages of my different volumes, does not suf- 
ficiently declare the material alterations 
which I have made in very many cases. And 
that I must not expect my Readers to retain 
what I have said dispersedly upon the subject 
through the pages of my Introductory Letter 
and Postscript. 

To Readers in general I conceive it to be 
sufficient to know generally, (which is to be 
collected from the tenor of my Letter, and from 
the specific remarks made upon Mr. Dibdin's 
Songs,) that alterations are made, and what is 
the nature of them ; and, from critical readers, 
an author has certainly a right to expect that 
the whole of his Introductory matter shall be 
read with attention before any opinion is 
formed : and, indeed, in many cases it is not 



XXV1U PREFACE. 

my intention that the generality of readers 
should know in what places alterations are 
made, as I do not wish them to refer to the 
originals : But I thought that I had been suf- 
ficiently explicit to let them understand, that I 
considered myself as wholly and solely respon- 
sible for the sentiments contained in the songs 
which 1 published, and that nothing should be 
attributed to the original author, whose name 
the song may bear, without a particular refe- 
rence to it in his own works. Yet, notwith- 
standing this, I have, in many cases, where the 
alterations have been great, or what I con- 
ceived might be variations from the serious and 
deliberate sentiments of the authors, stated that 
the piece was altered, as in the alteration of Pope's 
Universal prayer, vol. ii. p. 414. Also the 
alteration of the song " Away, let nought to 
love displeasing," where it is specified that it 
is altered, and the last four lines are put 
between brackets with ray own signature. One 
thing I had certainly omitted to say, namely 
that The Titles of the Songs are frequently an 
addition of my own ; but songs, where a title 
has not been originally given by the author, are 
met with, in different collections, by such dif- 
ferent titles, that I did not consider this circum- 
stance as necessary to be stated. The custom 



PXIEFACE. XXIX 

of altering the works of authors appeared to 
me to be so established in the vocal and dra- 
matic world that it was sufficiently understood 
and acknowledged ; and, as my alterations had 
in view the cause of Religion and Morality, I 
trusted that this superior object would secure to 
the Collection an indulgence beyond that due 
to mere compilation. 

It is with great pleasure that I make my 
acknowledgments to Mr. Dibdin for his per- 
mission to insert some of his Songs in this 
Volume. Having given, in my former volumes, 
all those, suitable to my purpose, which have 
become public property, I mentioned my 
intended publication to Mr. Dibdin, and 
expressed my wish to insert some of his Songs ; 
not because I was in want of numbers where- 
with to fill my volume, but as thinking many of 
his better than those of other authors, and wish- 
ing, as far as possible, that we should go hand 
in hand in our Vocal Exertions. In a Letter, 
dated January the 29th, he says, u I consider 
every tiling of that kind from you as a hand- 
some and friendly compliment, and it would be 
strange, and very unlike the kindness and good 
wishes 1 really feel, to throw any rub in the 
way of what you meditate, both as a good will 
to me, and a considerate attention to my repu- 



XXX PKEFACE. 

tation," — " The Songs you mention"— ~" and 
any others you may think proper," — " I beg 
you will publish without ceremony, and if in 
any other way I can be of use to your work, it 
will give me particular pleasure." 

The distresses which Mr. Dibdin has suf- 
fered within the last two years are but too well 
known to the public. May the close of his life 
be without farther clouds of sickness or sorrow ; 
or, if it shall please Providence to give him far- 
ther trials, may the issue of them be unfading 
happiness in a world where sickness and sorrow 
have no place ! 

Of the Songs in this volume bearing my own 
signature, as well as some others given in the 
Table of Contents as Original^ several have 
already appeared in The Vocal Repository ; 
of which an account is given in the List of 
Works by the Author at the end of this Volume. 
But, as that work is intended for circulation 
amongst the lowest classes, I thought I might 
with propriety give them as original to the 
readers for whom this Volume is intended ; 
none of them having been given in my former 
Collection of Songs in three Volumes. They 
have all been revised, and some have received 
very material corrections. I shall not other- 
wise apologize for having inserted them, than 



PREFACE. XXXI 

by saying, that the insertion of my own Songs 
appears to me in the same light as the writing 
the volume itself. To the name of Poet, 
taken in its highest sense, as including brilliant 
and forcible imagination and highly polished 
and ornamented diction, 1 do not aspire. My 
aim has been to give good sentiments in the 
best language which existing circumstances 
would admit, not always having leisure for the 
finishing labour of correction and polish. If I 
can obtain a Sprig of Bay from the garden of 
the Cottager, or of Laurel from the Shrubbery 
of the Moralist and Philanthropist, my aim is 
answered. 

With the consciousness of having hit ended 
well in this work, I submit it with confidence, 
yet I trust without arrogance, to that public 
who must decide upon its merits. 

Clare Hall, April 16, 1811. 



ERRATA. 

Page line 

15 15 before have insert few. 

37 5 from bottom, after prospect for the comma put a 
semicolon. 

45 18 for Cooler's read Camper's. 

Si 3 from bot. for Hallowav read Kolloway. 
Ill last line, for who read she. 
120 7 from bottom, for Whom read fVhc, 
158 10 before Virtue put does. 
202 8 after aright put a full stop. 
231 13 for it it read it is. 
277 2 before those put chirjly, 
350 19 after cour< put Aer. 
388 2 from bottom, afterj?oicer add a comma. 



I 



LETTERS 

TO 

JOHN AIKIN, M, D. 



LETTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY, 



Clare Hall, June 19, 1810. 
SIR, 

liv the year 1803, when I circulated Proposals 
for publishing a Collection of Songs purified 
(to the best of my judgment) from the alloy 
of profaneness and immorality, a friend, for 
whom I entertain the highest respect, said to 
me, Of course you have seen u that judicious 
Selection by the Aikins:" meaning Essays on 
Song-writing : with a Collection of such 
English Songs as are most eminent for 
'poetical merit. To which are added some 
original pieces. Published in 1772. A second 
Edition, with additions and corrections, was 
published in 1774. This Collection I had not 



2 LETTER I. 

seen; but, knowing well the names of Dr. 
Aikin and Mrs. Barbauld, together with the 
correctness of their poetical taste, and the 
morality of their writings in general, I was 
particularly anxious to see the Collection. It 
was not till after various applications to booksellers 
that I was able to procure a copy. At length 
I obtained one ; but must confess, that, notwith- 
standing the taste displayed in the Essays, I 
felt great disappointment, in reading the Songs, 
at finding so many which I considered as 
objectionable, and so few that appeared 
to have any farther view than that of a 
transient amusement. But, as the work was 
scarce, and out of respect to the friend who 
had recommended it, and to the authors, I 
forbore to animadvert upon it in the Intro- 
duction to my Volume of Songs with music, 
published in 1805, though I quoted a passage 
on the subject of the undue preference given 
to music above poetry, from the first Essay. 

In one of the London newspapers early in May 
last I saw an advertisement of Vocal Poetry ; 
or a Select Collection of English Songs. To 
which is prefixed a new Essay on Song Writing. 
— By John Aikin, M. D. " Dr. Aikin un- 
derstanding that a new edition of Essays on 
Song Writing, with a Collection of Songs, &c. 



INTRODUCTORY. .3 

has just been published with his name annexed, 
by Mr. Evans, of Pall Mall, finds it necessary 
to declare that he has never been consulted on 
this re-publication, and has no concern what- 
ever in it." 

It was with much satisfaction that I read this 
advertisement, and contemplated what I appre- 
hended would be the nature of your Essay and 
Collection of Vocal Poetry, from your senti- 
ments expressed and the taste displayed in some 
of your works, which I have read since my 
first seeing" your Essays on Song-writing; and 
I hoped that a period of nearly forty years had 
so altered your opinion on the subject of such 
works, that I expected a Collection of Songs, 
which I should rejoice to see submitted to 
the public with the sanction of so great a name. 

Having obtained the work, I immediately sat 
down to the perusal of it, and was pleased to 
think, from the general tenor of the Essay 
prefixed, that I should find my expectations 
realized. The advertisement speaks of the Essays 
in the former publication as being " the juvenile 
attempts of one whose taste was by no means 
matured," &c. and that, " the Editor was 
unwilling that his book should again be given to 
the public witli all its imperfections on its head. 
He was obliged, therefore, to declare, that if 



4 LETTER I. 

it were reprinted at all, it should be with many 
and material alterations, corresponding to his 
own change of taste and opinion in various 
points during so long an interval. 

Under these almost compulsory circumstances, 
although he perhaps should not now have chosen 
for the first time to appear as the collector of 
productions, the general strain of which is more 
suitable to an earlier period of life, yet he 
thought he might without impropriety avail 
himself of the opportunity of making a new 
and much more extensive selection of com- 
positions which will not cease to be favourites 
with the lovers of elegant poetry, whatever be 
the vicissitudes of general taste. 

The Editor, therefore, in this volume, which 
is rather a new work than the re -publication 
of an old one, has made it his leading object to 
collect, from all the sources within his reach, 
those pieces of the song kind which seemed to 
him most deserving of a place in the mass of 
approved English poetry. And having with 
some care revised his notions respecting the 
character and distinctions of these composi- 
tions," &c. 

You, afterwards, in the Essay, (p. xx.) 
mention the (i violations of decorum" in 
many songs; and that the "licentiousness" 



INTRODUCTORY. 

of " — the wits of either Charles's days/' 
— " imparted a taint to most of their pro- 
ductions; and even sometimes appeared in a 
coarseness of language little corresponding "with 
what might be expected in the style of men of 
fashion." (p. xlii.) You praise a pastoral by 
Shenstone for expressing " the delicacies of the 
soft passion in its purest form." (p. xxviii.) 
And you say, that the common theme, taken 
from the epicurean system of ethics, making the 
shortness of life, and the like, an incentive to 
present pleasure, though " in a certain tempe- 
rate degree it coalesces" with u rational philo- 
sophy," yet u carried further, it may justly 
excite the censure of the moralist, whatever 
indulgence be pleaded for it on the grounds of 
precedent and poetical fitness," (p. xxxi.) — 
You censure the taste of Burns for having been 
at times " contaminated by his habits of vulgar 
excess" ; (p. xlv.) and say that you " feel no 
ambition to be regarded as a priest of Bacchus." 
(p. xlviii.) After enumerating the sources 
whence you have derived your songs, you say 
that from those u a number of these pleasing 
compositions may be selected, which will do 
honour to English genius, and are well entitled 
to preservation as a portion of the mass of 
national poetry, even independently of their 
b 2 



6 LETTER I. 

association with some of the most agreeable 
strain of musical harmony. Such a selection 
has been the object of the present editor; and 
although he is well aware that an uniformity of 
judgement respecting the admission and re- 
jection of particular pieces cannot be expected, 
he presumes to hope that he shall not be thought 
chargeable in general either with inserting mean, 
vulgar, and improper articles, or with omitting 
those of acknowledged and decided excellence.' ' 
" It has been much more a point with the editor 
to give a select than a comprehensive collection . ' ' 
(p. xlv. xlvi.) 

With these sentiments pleasingly impressed 
upon my mind, I proceeded to peruse the songs 
themselves ; and must confess, that I experienced 
considerable disappointment : as many of them 
did not appear to me to be merely harmless com- 
positions, but to have a decidedly immoral 
tendency. 

Having already published several works on 
the subject of English songs, and examined the 
tendency of many of the most popular com- 
positions of that kind, I trust I shall give no 
cause of offence if I enter at some length into 
an examination of your work ; to which I am 
encouraged by knowing the liberality of Dr. 
Aikin's sentiments, and how great an advocate 



INTRODUCTORY. / 

lie is for free discussion. I have the less re- 
luctance in doing this > as the respect which I 
bear for your character and talents, and the 
pleasure which I have experienced from several 
of your works, seem to me as so many pledges 
in my own breast that I shall not exceed the 
bounds of decorum — I will add, of Christian 
charity. In a former publication, when T con- 
ceived myself to be called upon to animadvert 
upon some of Mr. Dibdin's Songs, I had the 
happiness to find, that so far from producing 
any unpleasant alter cation between that gentleman 
and myself, it led to a friendly correspondence, 
and afterwards to his contributing some of his 
compositions to my collection. I will indulge 
the pleasing hope that I shall not be less suc- 
cessful in my present undertaking. 

At the same time, I must confess, that, were 
you, Sir, the only person whom I might wish 
to influence by my remarks, I should not have 
felt myself intitled to trouble you at all ; cer- 
tainly, not with so long a work, and addressed 
in so public a manner. But I wish to address 
your readers and the public at large on the subject 
of your publication in particular, and on some 
subjects connected with it; a mode of pro- 
cedure, I believe, sufficiently sanctioned by 



5 LETTER t f 

examples in the literary world. I shall there- 
fore in this and some subsequent Letters take 
into consideration the sentiments expressed in 
your Essay on Song-writing, and also the Songs 
contained in each class in your Collection.* 

Of the influence which poetry has upon the 
mind you seem to be perfectly aware. In your 
Letters from a father to his Son 
(vol. II. L. xii. p. 200.) you speak of " ideas 
purely of the imagination, derived from the 
fascinating images of poetry" ; and you speak 
of them as operating with other causes to pro- 
mote a love for the country, and thereby to 
incline many to an agricultural life. (p. 199.) 
In your letter on History and Biography 
(L. xiii. p. 227.) you recommend them " for 
the rectifying of those false ideas, which the 



» These remarks appear to me now to be more necessary, 
as, since this was written, that very respectable work, The 
Quarterly Review, has spoken in the following high terms of 
the two publications in question: " This elegant Collection 
presents, to those who admire music, means of escaping from 
the too general pollution, and of indulging a pleasure which 
we are taught to regard as equally advantageous to the heart, 
taste, and understanding. Both editions are considerably 
enlarged by various songs extracted from the best modern 
poets, and in either shape the work maintains its right to rank 
as one of the most classical collections of songs in any language." 
No. VI. p. 492. 



INTRODUCTORY. V 

llieories of speculatists, and the fictions of poets 
and novelists, are continually obtruding upon 
our minds, and the combined mass of which 
probably constitutes a much larger portion of 
our opinion than we suspect. Every one, even 
moderately conversant with works of invention, 
must frequently, I doubt not, when searching 
for examples to corroborate moral or metaphy- 
sical theories, have found himself recurring un- 
awares to the characters and events contained in 
such works, in preference to those of real life." 
In your Letter on the Advantages of a Taste 
for Poetry (L. xv. p. HbQ.) you consider 
poetry as having effect in " meliorating the 
heart, and improving the intellectual faculties," 
and as presenting " ideas to the mind not only 
in the most pleasing, but in their most im- 
pressive form." And, again, " The diction of 



The Essays on Song-writing are spoken of with unqualified 
praise in a Letter from Professor Stewart of Edinburgh, 
to Dr. Currie of Liverpool, respecting the poet Burns: 
** The Collection of Songs by Dr. Aikin, which I first put into 
hishands, he read, with unmixed delight, notwithstanding his 
former efforts in that very difficult species of writing; and I 
have little doubt that it had some effect in polishing his 
subsequent compositions." (Life of Burn3. fifth Ed. p. 142.) 

These arc high authorities to combat : yet I caauot sacrifice 
to them my persuasion, that there is before me ground for just 
but candid animadversion, • 



10 LETTER I. 

poetry is language in its noblest dress, nor is it 
possible to obtain an idea of the full power of 
words without being conversant with the works 
of poets. It elevates, points and vivifies all it 
touches. It paints sensible objects in all the 
strong colouring of circumstantial and kindred 
imagery ; it renders visible the secret workings 
of passion and sentiment by their corporeal 
expressions ; and by associating abstract truths 
with resemblances drawn from external nature, 
it indelibly imprints them upon the memory. 
In exquisite poetry every word has its peculiar 
force, and aids the general impression." (Do. 
p. 259.) Speaking of our great English Dra- 
matist, you say (p. 265.) " Considering the 
universal familiarity with Shakespeare's best 
pieces acquired among us, either from the stage 
or in the closet, and the adoption of so much of 
his phraseology by many of our popular writers, 
I do not think it is exaggerating the effect of 
poetry, to suppose that the characteristic 
English manliness of thought has been greatly 
indebted to him for its preservation amid pre- 
vailing luxury and fashionable frivolity." In 
your Essay on Song-writing (p. xviii.) you 
say, that, " The share that Lilliburlero had in 
promoting the Revolution in this country has 
been noticed by grave historians." And of the 



INTRODUCTORY. H 

national song of Rule Britannia you say, u it 
cannot be doubted that it has produced a great 
effect in accustoming Britons to the claim of 
maritime empire." (p. xxiv.)* 

Nor is this influence confined to the lower 
classes. Even Ministers of State, at their 
public dinners, listen with complacency to these 
productions; and one who has been high in 
office, and whose talents are of the first rate, 
has condescended to write son«'s for these oc- 

o 

Casions. 



* An incident occurred to me little more than a year ago, 
which gave me a very forcible idea of the influence which the 
most common popular songs have upon the minds even of 
persons from whom we should expect very different things. 
Soon after the defeat of the Au?trians, in 1S09, I was 
conversing with a Clergyman some years older than myself in 
our quadrangle at Clare Hall. Amongst the ornaments at the 
top of the building over the eastern gate-way are figures in 
stone of angels or cherubs. A third person was present, and 
the conversation turned on the times and our comparatively 
happy state in this country, and especially that of ourselves, 
living in the peaceful retirement of a college. " Yes," replied 
the clergyman, pointing to one of the figures of the angels, 
" We are very much obliged to " the little cherub that siis vp 
aloft " alluding to the burden of Dibdin's song of Poor Jack. 
Though a reference to Providence would (in my opinion) have 
been better, and especially more suited to the station and 
education of the person who uttered the reflection, yet it seems 
fairly in pointtouards proving what I mentioned, the influence 
of popular songs upon the minds even of such persons. 



12 LETTER I. 

You yourself, Sir, give us a forcible instance 
in your own case, of the fascination of poetry, 
and even of permanent advantage to be derived 
from it. In your Letter On the Advantages of 
a Taste for Poetry (L. xv. p. 275.) you say, 
that " From the very early period at which 
books constituted one of my chief pleasures, to 
the time at which I write, I have seldom passed 
a day without some perusal of a poetical work. 
I have habitually made it the bonne bouche of 
my studies, and have often placed it before me 
as a sort of recompence for assiduity in literary 
or professional labours. My relish for it still 
remains undiminished: for whatever may be 
lost in fondness for the wilder and more fanciful 
parts of poetry, is compensated in increased 
attachment to the more serious and dignified. 
I would hope, too, that this taste has not 
merely served me for amusement ; and if I do 
not deceive myself, I can refer to the strong 
impressions made by poetry, the origin of 
some of those sentiments, which 1 should not 
willingly part with."* 



* Dr. Watts, in his admirable work On the Improvement of 
the Mind, in the Chapter on the Sciences and their uses (Cn. xx. 
Sec. xxxvi. §.3.) saysof poetry, that " The most considerable 
advantage to be obtained from it by the bulk of mankind" " js, to 



INTRODUCTORY. 13 

I can myself say much the same with 
respect to my love for poetry : but I fear that, 
at one period of my life, I made it more than 



furnish our tongues with the richest and the most polite variety of 
phrases and words upon all occasions of life or religion." And, 
again, " After all that I have said, there is yet a farther use of 
reading poesy, and that is, when the mind has been fatigued 
with studies of a more laborious kind, or when it is any ways 
unfit for the pursuit of more difficult subjects, it may be as it 
were unbent, and repose itself awhile on the flowery meadows 
where the Muses dwell. It is a very sensible relief to the soul, 
when it is overtired, to amuse itself with the numbers and the 
beautiful sentiments of the poets ; and in a little time this agree- 
able amusement may recover the languid spirits to activity and 
more important service."' \. 4. 

Owen Felltham, in his Resolves, in <he Chapter on the Wor- 
ship of Admiration, sajs, " I cannot read some parts of Seneca, 
above two leaves together, but he raises my soul to contempla- 
tions which set me a thinking on more than 1 can imagine ; so I 
am forced to lay him by, and subside in admiration. Similar 
effects are worked, by poetry, when it has to do with towering 
virtues. It excites in the mind of man such raptures, and irra- 
diates the soul with such high apprehensions, that all the glories 
which this world hath, hereby appear contemptible." (Edition 
by Cumming, p. 30.) " Its higher and imaginary descriptions 
rather »hew what men should be, than what they are; hyper- 
boles in poetry, not only carry a decency, but even a grace along 
with them. The greatest danger that I find in poetry is, that it 
sometimes corrupts the mind and inflames the passions. To pre- 
vent this, let the poet strive to be chaste in his lines, and never 
profane, immoral, or licentious. When this is attended to, I 
think a grave poem the deepest kind of writing. It wings the 
soul up^ higher, than the slack pace of prose." (Do. Chapter 
on Poets and Poetry, p. 131.) 



14 LETTER I. 

my bonne bouche, or recompence for profici- 
ency in severer studies. And though I have 
received many valuable impressions from ex- 
cellent poetry (excellent for the matter as 
well as the manner,) I wish that the gold had 
contained less alloy, as I have likewise certainly 
received many bad impressions from the looser 
productions which have fallen in my way, and 
which will even now occasionally intrude into 
my mind. For, at the period when I chiefly 
met with these, my principles were not formed, 
nor had I a sufficiently strong sense of morality 
and religion, to chuse only the good and to 
refuse the evil. And it is the remembrance of 
this circumstance which so powerfully weighs 
with me, that I wish your Collection of Vocal 
Poetry had been of a different description. 
In your Letters to a Young Lady on 



Thomson, in his Tragedy of Agamemnon, Act. III. makes 
poetry one of the sources of consolation to Melisander during 
his solitary abode on one of the Cyclad isles : 

But, chief, the muses lent their softening aid. 

At their enchaining voice my sorrows fled, 

Or learn' d to please, while, through my troubled heart 

The soul of harmony was felt anew. 

Thus of the great community of nature 

A denizen I liv'd ; and oft, in hymns, 

And rapturous thought, even with high heav'n convers'd. 



INTRODUCTORY. 15 

a Course of English Poetry, (L. 1. 
p. 2.) you say, " 1 take it for granted that you 
are already well grounded in the principles of 
morality, and therefore may be trusted to 
extract what is most valuable from a set of 
authors who, in general, are friends to virtue 
and decorum, while you pass lightly and 
unhurt over the dubious matter which may be 
mingled with the rest." Now, Sir, from the 
opportunities which I have had of judging of 
the principles of morality in young persons, 
both at a large school, and at college, and 
also from my observations in the world at large, 
I conceive that few are possessed of this dis- 
crimination, or, at least, have not sufficient 
principle to reject what they in some degree 
know to be wrong. It appears to me, there- 
fore, to be a point of the utmost importance 
that the books intended for young persons, 
and indeed for all persons, (for many who 
are more advanced in years are still more defi- 
cient in principle,) should be as free from every 
taint of corruption as possible. What you 
have said in the third Letter of your first 
Volume addressed to your son (p. 25.) on our 
Attachment to the Ancients, and upon the great 
use we make of the classical writers of Greece 
and Rome, appears to me in some measure 



16 LETTER I. 

applicable to our attachment to the often well- 
written and witty, but profligate writings of our 
poets : " It is, indeed, astonishing to reflect, by 
what a strange concatenation of cause and effect, 
the youth of Christian Europe should be in- 
structed in the fables of Greek and Latin my- 
thology, which were fallen into contempt even 
before Rome ceased to be heathen. It certainly 
has not been on account of their wisdom and 
beauty that they have survived the wreck of so 
many better things. They have been embalmed 
in the languages" (the Poetry) " which con- 
tain them, and which, by becoming likewise the 
depositaries of Christian doctrine, have been 
rendered sacred languages." The poetical 
language of such of our immoral songs as are 
well written has a fascinating power over our 
minds, somewhat resembling the power of the 
ancient languages in setting off the heathen 
mythology. 

Of the importance of forming a correct Taste, 
and of the value of it when formed, you appear 
to entertain a very high sense. In your Letters 
on Poetry, (L. x. p. 136.) after recommending 
a complete and accurate perusal of Milton, you 
say, " and then assure yourself that you are 
possessed for life of a source of exquisite enter- 
tainment, capable of elevating the mind under 



INTRODUCTORY. 17 

depression, and of recalling the taste from a 
fondness for tinsel and frivolity, to a relish for 
all that is solidly grand and beautiful." And 
at the conclusion of the work you say, u I have 
now, my dear young friend, completed my 
original design of pointing out to you such a 
course of reading in the English Poets as might 
at the same time contribute to form your literary 
taste, and provide you with a fund of rational and 
exalted entertainment. Of the value of such a 
lasting and easily procurable source of pleasure, 
I can speak from my own experience ; nor do I 
think it less adapted to solace the domestic lei- 
sure of a female, than to relieve the cares and 
labours of masculine occupation. I am also 
convinced, that such an union of moral and 
religious sentiment with the harmony of num- 
bers and the splendour of language, as our best 
poets afford, is of important use in elevating 
the mind, and fortifying it against those trials 
to which the human condition is perpetu- 
ally exposed. Nor are the lighter strains 
without their value in promoting a harmless 
gaiety chastised by elegance and refinement." 
Again, in your Letters to your Son (Vol. II. 
L. xv. p. 275.) you strongly connect morals 
with the purest and most refined taste. You 
say, " The purest and most refined taste will 
c 2 



18 LETTER I. 

therefore prove the safest in this respect ; and if 
ought to be a leading point in the education of 
youth, to infuse an early relish for those capital 
productions which are alike excellent as lessons 
of morality, and as specimens of genius." 

On the subject of Indecency and Licen- 
tiousness our sentiments appear, generally 
speaking, to coincide. In your Letters on 
Poetry (L. iv. p. 35.) you say of some of 
Prior's pieces, that you " cannot with pro- 
priety recommend" them to the perusal of the 
young lady you are addressing. Speaking of 
the ease of Swift's verse, you say, (L. vi. 
p. 64.) " It is true, this freedom is often inde- 
corous, and would at the present day be scarcely 
hazarded by any one who kept good company, 
still less by a clergyman." On Pope's Epistle of 
Eloisa to Abelard, you state, (L. vii. p. 82.) that 
" The piece in question, it must be confessed, 
is faulty in giving too forcible an expression to 
sentiments inconsistent with female purity". 
Afterwards, (p. 93.) speaking of his Four Moral 
Essays, " You will also occasionally be dis- 
gusted with a certain flippancy of expression, 
and still more with a taint of grossness of lan- 
guage, which, if not a personal rather than a 
national defect, would afford an unfortunate dis* 
tinction between our literature in Anne's and 



INTRODUCTORY. 



19 



George's reigns, and that of France in the age 
of Louis the Fourteenth. Boileau, whom Pope 
imitated, and who was not less severe in censure 
than he, is beyond comparison more delicate 
in his language. There is a kind of coarseness, 
consisting in the use of common words, which 
conduces so much to the strength and vigour of 
style, that one would not wish to see it sacrificed 
to fastidious nicety ; but Pope frequently goes 
bej'ond this, and betrays rather a contami- 
nation of ideas than a carelessness of phrase- 
ology. This remark, however, applies more to 
some subsequent productions than to those at 
present before us." I am glad you have thus 
noticed, in this eminent Poet, the pernicious 
fault of a contamination of ideas. When you 
come to speak of Milton's Comus, (L. ix. 
p. 121.) you say, " As a recompense for the 
humiliation you may have felt on viewing the 
female character as pourtrayed by Pope and 
Swift, you may justly pride yourself on the 
lustre thrown around it in its virgin purity, by 
this superior genius." The last passage on this 
subject which I shall quote from your Letters, 
is in the xviiith, (p. 252.) where, speaking of 
Congreve, you say, " If Dr. Johnson's sen- 
tence be just, that Congreve's miscellaneous 
pieces " show little wit and little virtue," I 



20 LETTER I. 

should be wrong to recommend them at all to 
jour perusal ; and indeed the little that is good 
in them is scarcely worth the pains of selecting 
from the bad or indifferent." I cannot forbear 
adding a passage from your View of the Cha- 
racter and public Services of the late John 
Howard, Esq. " Mr. Howard's predilection 
for female society, was in part a consequence 
of his abhorrence of every thing gross and 
licentious. His own language and manners 
were invariably pure and delicate; and the 
freedoms which pass uncensured or even ap- 
plauded in the promiscuous companies of men, 
would have affected him with sensations of 
disgust." (p. 234.) 

A question, however, may arise, What is 
indecency? Wherein does it consist ? Per- 
sons have different opinions respecting it ; what 
appears indecent and licentious to one, does not 
to another, and even the commonly decent 
sometimes receive the appellation of squeamish . 
Some who will without scruple read the gene- 
rality of our plays, will yet object to many pas- 
sages in the sacred writings ; and I have even 
known the scrupulous William Law to be ac- 
cused of grossness and licentiousness for what he 
has said, in his Tract upon the Stage, in con- 
demnation of the plays of his time. It appears 



INTRODUCTORY. 21 

to me, that the propriety or impropriety of 
ideas and of language in this respect depends 
very much upon the motive and upon the man- 
ner of it. Where the motive is for instruction or 
for reproof, a plainer kind of speech I conceive 
may be used, provided the manner be grave, 
and shew on what motive it is used : but, where 
the manner is licentious or light, a double mean- 
ing, an action, or a look, may raise ideas and 
corrupt the heart infinitely more than much 
plainer terms. This 1 conceive to be the case 
with those passages in the sacred writings which 
give offence to some. Where sins are men- 
tioned as sins, and as being contrary to the law 
of God, the plainness of the terms does not 
appear to be an objection ; farther than that, as 
society and language advance in refinement, the 
phraseology of books should be refined in 
proportion. Perhaps it might be desirable that 
some of the passages translated in terms not 
now generally made use of in polished society, 
were to be new rendered in terms conformable to 
that refinement.* Something, too, depends upon 



f In Mrs. Trimmer's Sacred History, in 6 volumes 
12mo. and her Abridgment or Scripture History in c 2 



22 LETTER I. 

habit and the customs of the society in which 
we live, even though there should be some 
inconsistency in practice ; as, where Alscrip, in 
the Comedy of The Heiress, A. iii. S. 1. com- 
menting upon his daughter having a valet de 
chambre to wait upon her, says, " Now if I was 
to give the charge of my person to a waiting 
maid, they'd say I was indelicate." The rea- 
soning I conceive to be just ; but, as it is the 
custom of the country for ladies to have men to 
wait upon them as hairdressers, and not for gen- 
tlemen to have females to wait upon them, he 



vols. 12mo. intended chiefly for young persons, these passages 
are either omitted or the expressions altered. 

Mr. Cuoiming, in the Advertisement prefixed to his new Edi- 
tion of Owen Felltham's Resolves, quotes the opinion of a 
learned friend upon the work, which ends with—" When pruned 
(he adds) of a few impurities, and a little curtailed, it will be a 
vast addition to the stores of English Literature." Then says, 
*' The impurities which are here referred to, consist of indeli- 
cate expressions, allusions, and conceits, which are not unfre- 
quently to be met with in the writers of Felltham's time, and 
which, though by no means of a licentious or immoral cast, are 
nevertheless offensive to the delicacy of modern refinement. 
These, have accordingly been omitted." (p. xiii.) And Mrs. 
West, in the Second Volume of her Letters to a Young Lady 
(L. ix. p. 315. 3rd Edit .) says, " Examples of what we should 
now call inelegant bluntness may be taken from the justly ad- 
mired letters of Lady Rachel Russel." 



INTRODUCTORY. 23 

who should thus employ a female about his 
person, would be more liable to censure. 
Where men attend upon women in a medical 
capacity, or women attend upon men as nurses, 
an alteration of circumstances renders the inter- 
course unobjectionable. But, on the other 
hand, I conceive that every circumstance or 
expression, which tends to make light of that 
which is really in itself a sin, or facilitates the 
approaches to it, whether it be by giving pal- 
liating or favourable names to sins, or by witty 
turns to lessen our abhorrence of them, or even 
to recommend them, this I conceive to be one 
main source of the " corrupt communication" 
against which the Apostle warns us. (Ephe- 
sians iv. 29.) 

I have said so much upon the subject of 
Heathenism in the Introduction to my Collection 
of Songs, where I have quoted a passage from 
your " very beautiful and interesting Essay on 
the Application of Natural History to Poetry," 
(Vol. i. p. xxxvi.) and in my Discouises on 
the Stage, that I shall introduce in this place 
merely a few passages from your own writings, 
which make me wonder that you have selected 
so many compositions which turn upon the 
heathen mythology of Venus, Cupid, Bacchus, 



24 LETTER I. 

&c. &c. A passage from your Letters to your 
Son has been already cited, p. 16. 

In your Letters on Poetry (L. viii. p. 110.) 
speaking of the Love Elegies of Hammond, you 
say, " He has, however, undergone some heavy 
censure for adopting so large a share of the 
rural imagery and heathen mythology of Ti- 
bullus, which, being with respect to himself 
purely fictitious, impairs the reality of his as- 
sumed character of a lover." In Letter ix. 
(p. 120.) you represent the ancient mythology 
as suited rather to pedantic times than to ours. 
Speaking of Comus, you say, u That kind of 
drama called a Mask, consisting of a fable 
in which the characters of antient mythology, 
or abstract qualities personified, are the actors, 
frequently employed the invention of Ben Jon- 
son and others of our early dramatists, for the 
entertainment of the learned and somewhat 
pedantic times in which they lived." On 
Akenside's u Hymn to the Naiads", (L. xii. 
p. 162.) You say, " The character of one of 
the most classical poems in the English lan- 
guage will perhaps but dubiously recommend it 
to your favour. In fact, it sounds the very 
depths of Grecian mythology; and a merei 
English reader may well be startled at the 



INTRODUCTORY. 25 

mystical solemnity with which this song begins. " 
You say of Cowley, (L. xvii. p. 234.) " He 
made his first essays in a free version of some of 
Pindar's odes, which I will not desire you to 
peruse ; for what amusement are you likely to 
find in the obscure tales of antient mythology, 
and the adulation of forgotten horse-racers ?" 
On Tickell's poem of " Kensington Garden," 
you say, (L. xviii. p. 249.) it u is a pretty 
fancy-piece ; not correct, indeed, in its mytho- 
logy, since it blends the fiction of the fairy 
system with that of the heathen deities." 

The more I consider your work, Sir, the 
more I am surprised that some of the songs 
have been inserted, and that in others those 
alterations have not been made which would 
have rendered them, not only harmless, but in- 
structive. That you have not forborne doing 
this out uf respect to the authors, and thinking- 
it wrong to alter what has been sent into the 
world in a certain form by them, appears from 
what you have said in your Essay (p. xv.) 
about national stories in Old Ballads being 
u retold in newer and more polished diction, 
perhaps retrenched in their prolixity, and 
enlivened by touches of sentiment," as may be 
seen in the two editions of the Ballad of Chevy 
Chase. You have yourself altered a song of 
Dr. Donne's, (p. 215.) on account of the rugged 

D 



25 LETTER I. 

versification, and you have omitted a verse in a 
Song of Sir John Suckling's ; (p. 167.) and in 
that very pleasing work, your Calendar of 
Nature, in the lines prefixed to April ', from 
the song of Shakspeare, commonly known 
by the name of the Cuckoo Song, you have 
omitted the lines respecting the cuckoo's mock- 
ing men, thinking them, I suppose, vulgar and 
indelicate. If report speak truth, the Edition of 
Dr. Watts's Songs, " Revised and Altered, by 
a Lady," containing alterations of a still more 
important and extensive nature, (such as can be 
approved by Christians of only one denomi- 
nation,) were made by a lady nearly connected 
with you ; and with whom you have frequently 
been a brother in literary labours.* 

Mrs. Barbauld, in her Thoughts ox 
the Devotional Taste, prefixed to her 
Devotional Pieces, compiled from The 
Psalms and the Book of Job, says, " It was 
hoped" — < ' that it might be of serv ice to the cause 
of religion, to make a collection of this kind 
now offered to the public. In this collection, 
all the Psalms which would bear it are given 
entire : others, where the connecled sense could 
be preserved with such an omission, have only 



* See this work reviewed iu The Guardian of Educa- 
tion. Vol. II. p. 360. 



INTRODUCTORY. 27 

the exceptionable* parts left out ; and a third 
class is formed of separate passages scattered 
through several pieces, which are attempted 
to be formed into regular and distinct odes", 
(p. 46.) This is pretty much what I have 
attempted to do with English Songs in my 
Collection. 

1 think, therefore, we shall not differ very 
widely in considering how far it is allowable 
and expedient to alter productions according to 
our ideas of propriety. 

But to leave these preliminary remarks, and 
proceed to the consideration of the volume 
itself: I will, however, first observe, that in 
your ideas of Vocal Poetry or of English Song, 
it appears to me, Sir, you have taken much too 
confined a view. Vocal Poetry and vocal 
Music, as it exists at present in this kingdom, 
may be considered, first, as Sacred, including 
the Psalms, Hymns, and Anthems, sung in our 
Churches, and the Oratorios, performed occa- 
sionally in our Churches, at the Theatres during 
Lent, and sometimes at Concerts. In the 
second place we may rank Theatrical vocal 
music, consisting of the Songs sung in Operas 
and other Dramatic Pieces, the Entertain- 



* By exceptionable^ I suppose Mrs. B. means not applicable 
Jo our circumstances. 



28 LETTER 1, 

ments of Professional men, as Collins, Dibdin, 
and others, and the Songs sung at concerts, 
which are, for the most part, selected from all 
or most of the preceding descriptions. Next to 
these may be considered the vocal music of 
the convivial board, both private parties and 
public meetings, at which Theatrical and Con- 
cert Songs are mostly sung, with others pecu- 
liarly adapted to the occasions ; and, lastly, the 
vocal music of the private room, or domestic 
circle, including all, or most of the former, as 
may be seen by turiiing over the Collections to 
be met with in almost every private house 
wherein there are any persons who have a taste 
for music. These are the sources to which I have 
chiefly applied in forming my Collection of Songs 
in 3 volumes, and these I have attempted to 
class, as far as distinction appeared (o me to be 
practicable ; but, as the primary object of these 
Letters is to examine the Songs you have 
chosen, according to your own selection and 
arrangement, and the observations you have 
made upon them, I shall consider each of your 
classes separately, and then shall make such 
further remarks as the subject seems to require. 
I am, Sir, 

with great respect, 

your obedient humble Servant, 
JAMES PLUMPTRE. 



29 



LETTER II, 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 



Sept. 5, 1810. 
SIR, 

In conformity with the order which you have 
yourself observed in your Volume of Vocal 
Poetry, I shall, in this Letter, make some 
remarks upon that part of your Essay on Song- 
writing which relates to Ballads and Pastoral 
Songs ; and shall then proceed to make my 
observations upon the Ballads and Songs them- 
selves in the order in which they stand. 

Your remarks on the Ballad and its properties 
appear to me in general to be just ; but I cannot 
say that I agree with you in preferring the Bal- 
lads of " Lord Ronald", (that is what Mr. 
Walter Scott calls " Glenfinlas, or Lord 
Ronald's Coronach,") and " Cadyow Castle," 
from the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," 
to those of William and Margaret, Colin and 
Lucy, and the Hermit of Goldsmith. The 
particular merits of these pieces 1 shall consider 
hereafter; but I will just observe that if 
d 2 



SO LETTER II. 

" Glenfinlas" and " Cadyow Castle" surpass 
the others in vigour of poetry, the others have 
the advantage of subject. Glenfinlas is calcu- 
lated only to nourish that love for the marvellous 
and supernatural to which the human mind is 
too prone, and Cadyow Castle sets an act of 
deliberate and bloody revenge in the light of an 
heroic action. After mentioning these, and 
adverting to some French metrical pieces, you 
say, (p. xvii.) that " we are now got beyond 
the limits of song properly so called, since it is 
evident that a great number of stanzas, sung to 
an uniformly repeated simple tune, would be 
insupportably tedious to modern ears ; whence 
such compositions must be considered as 
addressed merely to readers, and be referred to 
the class of minor poetry". The Ballads of 
William and Margaret, Colin and Lucy, and 
the Hermit, have, I believe, been all set to music 
and sung at Concerts; and though the gene- 
rality of hearers of songs in this age are not 
remarkable for giving very long attention to any 
one subject, yet they will sit to hear some tole- 
rably long productions of this kind, when the 
words are interesting, the tune simple and pathe- 
tic or lively and well adapted to narrative, and 
the words well articulated. Some of the 
Songs of Collins and of Mr. Dibdin are nearly, 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 31 

if not quite, as long as some of these, and have 
been listened to with delight by numerous 
audiences. Shorter than these, but, for sweet- 
ness of effect, worthy the attention of every 
lover of simple vocal music, Collins's Roman 
Veteran or Date Obolum Belisario, and Dib- 
din's Sailor's Journal, Tom Tackle, Labourer's 
Welcome Home, and Nongtongpaw, might be 
listened to without taedium were they twice or 
three times the length. The lower classes, I 
believe, have some long narrations amongst 
their popular songs. But I do not see why the 
simple recitation of such pieces might not be 
introduced with effect at festive meetings. On 
some public occasions I believe this has been 
tried and succeeded. 

You have afterwards, Sir, (p. xxi.) called 
attention to some ballads, which, I think, had 
been better consigned to oblivion, than men- 
tioned as they are by you : one receiving the 
engaging appellation of u sprightly ballad," 
and another recommended by saying that the 
author " gained great applause", and that it 
is " remarkable for the ease of its language and 
the liveliness of its imagery". The stage has 
long since relinquished the former.* The 



* While the managers of the theatres have very comraen- 
dably puritied the stage from much offensive matter, it is to 



32 LETTER II. 

Ballad of Old Robin Gray of which you have 
said so much in commendation, has not found a 
place in your Volume. 

But to proceed to the Pastoral Song : 
In your Letters to your Son, the eighth and 
ninth of the first volume are u On Nature and 
Art, and the Love o^ Novelty". You give 
your opinion, (p. 65.) that novelty is " the 
great requisite in all endeavours to entertain". 
And you support this opinion through these two 
Letters. Without conceding the justness of 
this opinion, and also without controverting it on 
the ground of general criticism, 1 will venture 
to affirm, in the way of moral criticism, that, 
were the opinion ever so correct, it could no 
way justify any thing immoral in Songs or 
other compositions. A principle of abstaining 
from every thing which may do harm, of sup- 
pressing resolutely every idea which tends to 
undermine or enfeeble our morals, whatever be 
its charms of originality, of humour, or the like, 
is the first and grand principle to be impressed 
upon the minds of those who write to entertain, 
or indeed who write for other purposes. I 
might also dwell upon the distinction between 



he lamented that such stuff as The Farthing Rushlight, William 
Taylor, Miss Bayley, Mr. Lobski and another of the Songs, 
sung by Servitz in the Exile, should be still suffered. 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. S3 

the merely entertaining, and the producing of 
those higher effects upon the mind, which a 
reader may experience from pathetic or in- 
structive poetry. From which it would follow, 
that, though Novelty were allowed as the great 
requisite for entertaining, yet it would not 
therefore be the great requisite for poetry at 
large. Nor can I admit, even in Songs, that 
either the sole object or the sole effect is, to 
entertain. In sacred Songs, in many dramatic 
Songs, and in some which are used only in a 
private room, nay even in the solitary perusal 
of some, the attentive mind, duly prepared by 
habit and intellect, will find an impression 
which would be ill described by the word 
entertained. 

But I avoid dwelling upon these points, that 
I may rest upon my main ground, the moral 
considerations which are to guide us. I main- 
tain the indispensable necessity of keeping 
within the bounds of innocence ; even though 
it should diminish our entertainment. Which, 
however, I deny that it will, in a continued 
course ; although it may for a time, in instances 
of minds vitiated in taste, or unfurnished with 
moral principle. But it is the duty of authors, 
not to accommodate their compositions to such 
minds, but to offer that which (while it enter- 



Si LETTER II. 

tains, elevates, or otherwise innocently moves) 
may gradually correct the taste and instil good 
principles : or, to say the least, will not make 
that worse which is already bad. 

It may not be amiss, however, briefly to 
adduce your own authority ; in order to prevent 
the Readers of your two Letters before men- 
tioned from taking what you have said, on 
Novelty and Art as requisites for pleasing or 
entertaining, more strongly than you yourself 
intended. Gay -wrote some rural pieces, 
painting real manners, without fictitious soft- 
ening; intending them as burlesque parody, 
and as a ridicule on vulgar pastoral. But what 
was the result ? Of these pieces of Gay you 
say, in your Letters on Poetry (L. v. p. 57.), 
" such is the charm of reality, and so grateful 
to the general feelings are the images drawn from 
rural scenes, that they afford amusement to all 
ranks of readers ; and they who did not com- 
prehend the jest, enjoyed them as faithful 
copies of nature". Also in the Letters on 
Poetry (L. ix. p. 125.), you admit that Dr. 
J olmson justly censured some poems in Milton's 
time (fictitious pastoral), u for that want of 
reality which almost entirely destroys their 
interest". And (L. xix. p. 268.) you com- 
mend Goldsmith's Deserted Village as a copy 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL &ONGS. 3b 

of reality. Again, (p. 277.) you quote this 
stanza from Johnson, 

In misery's darkest caverns known, 

His useful care was ever nigh, 
Where hopeless anguish pour'd his groan, 

And lonely want retir'd to die. 

And you subjoin these words : " I confess, 
that much as I admire the flight of a poetical 
- imagination, it is these sober serious strains to 
which at present I recur with most delight. 
Your taste may reasonably be different ; yet I 
trust in the solidity of your understanding to 
lead you to set a just value upon that verse, 
which, while it gratifies the ear, also touches 
and meliorates the heart". Excuse me, Sir, if 
I express my surprise that the taste which 
could relish these lines, and the heart which 
could dictate these sentiments, could afterwards 
five to the world the Volume of Vocal Poetry. 
You raise my admiration of your taste, when, 
speaking of Cowper, (Letter xx. p. 294.) and of 
u the pathetic address 1 ' in the Tirocinium 
(1. 845.) " to the father just on the point of 
sending his son to a public school", you say, 
r It is in such domestic pictures of the tender 
kind that Cowper is inimitable! If you wish 
to feel the full force of the simple pathetic, 
raised by no other art than the selection of little 



36 LETTER II. 

circumstances, which could only have suggested 
themselves to an exquisitely sensible heart, you 
must turn to the piece which has lately appeared 
in his u Life by Hayley," addressed to the 
beloved companion of so many years, his Mary, 
now reduced to second infancy. All the studied 
elegies and monodies that were ever written are 
poor in effect to this effusion" . 

In your Essay prefixed to Thomson's Seasons, 
(p. Iviii.) speaking of " those simple incidents 
which are most adapted to excite (he sym- 
pathetic emotions," you say, u The nearer 
they approach to common life, the more cer- 
tainly will they produce their effect". 

Not to multiply passages on this head, 1 
shall merely cite two from your Essay on Song- 
writing, the one (p. xxii.) where speaking of 
the Ballad of Old Robin Gray, you say that it 
u has scarcely its equal for the touching effect 
of a story related in the most simple and 
unaffected manner, and with no exaggeration of 
feeling". The other is p. xxviii, and direct to 
my purpose, that, " All pastoral poetry, how- 
ever, it must be acknowledged, tends to a 
langour and insipidity proceeding from the 
monotony of the imagery and ideas, and the 
radical want of that reality which is requisite 
for exciting a lively interest". 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 37 

These references to your own works, Sir, 
will, I conceive, support me in maintaining, 
that a departure from Nature, to " feed our 
appetite for novelty upon imaginary beings," 
(Letters to Son. Vol. I. L. viii. p. 67.) is not 
a prime requisite for poetical composition ; 
though you say that we are at last compelled to 
it. Perhaps, after all, you and I do not fun- 
damentally differ much upon this subject. I 
allow charms to Art and Novelty, in their 
proper place : and you (as appears from the 
foregoing citations) pay great deference to 
Reality and Sober Strains. Novelty is one 
source of pleasure ; but the steady and well- 
formed mind, I conceive, derives many of its 
enjoyments from other and higher sources. The 
superior mind of Cowper seems to have dwelt 
with peculiar pleasure on scenes and ideas with 
which he had long been familiar. In the first 
Book of that incomparable Poem, The Task, he 
particularly seems to rejoice that his advanced 
years have not 

» " yet impair'd 
My relish of fair prospect, scenes that sooth'd 
Or charm'd me young, no longer young, 1 find 
Still soothing, and of power to charm rae still." Line 140. 

But how near we are to an agreement on this 
subject of Novelty, is probably not necessary 



38 LETTER II. 

to be settled. On the propriety of admitting 
many of the Songs in your Collection, we seem 
to differ widely. But, before I come to remark 
on the separate songs, I wish to say something 
on your observations respecting the state of 
morals in our villages. 

You say (Vol. I. L. ix. p. 79.) " we know 
too well that no Arcadia exists upon modern 
ground, and that vice and wretchedness prevail 
in the hamlet as well as in the city." That 
they prevail in both we must not deny. But 
you say (Vol. II. L. xii. p. 205.) " The vil- 
lage has its rake and debauchee as well as the 
town ; the alehouse of the one offers as great a 
temptation as the tavern of the other ; female 
chastity is an object of seduction equally in 
both ; the day-labourer of the one is as much 
disposed as the mechanic or manufacturer of 
the other to neglect his hirer's business, and 
make petty depredations on his property ; for 
want and laziness are just the same motives in 
both." That these evils are as great, that 
they are equally prevalent, in the Country and 
the City, I cannot well grant. 

I have resided a great part of my life in the 
Country ; and I may say that I have associated 
both with farmers and labourers, I have known 
them intimately as the pastor of a parish, I 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 39 

have seen them in their religious duties, in their 
occupations, and in their festivities; — I have 
seen the poor of other places by the way, while 
I have travelled on foot through many parts of 
this island, both in their cottages and in their 
public houses ; nay, I have not only seen those 
employed inrural life, but I have conversed with 
the miner, the manufacturer, and the artisan, the 
ostler, the postboy, and the coachman, the fish- 
erman, the sailor and the soldier. And I conceive 
it but an act of justice due to the lower classes 
of society to say, that I do not think they 
are worse than the higher, or even as bad; 
when I reflect upon their education, their 
opportunities of learning, and the examples set 
them, I consider them as being better ; — though 
far be it from me to say that 1 do not think 
there is much vice to be found among the lower 
classes, much virtue among the higher. But, 
amid the lower classes I have seen much genuine 
and unaffected piety, unshaken integrity, sobri- 
ety and chastity, much brotherly love, and a 
readiness to assist each other in want or in af- 
fliction*. Nor must I omit in my catalogue of 



* In Bishop Home's admirable Discourse on The Blessed 
Effects of Perseverance, preached before the Society for pro- 



40 LETTER II. 

virtues not unfrequently to be met with, and 
especially as connected with this subject, an 
urbanity and unaffected civility of manner, I 
might almost say a polish, which has been truly 
pleasant, and so far from " rude manners" and 
u coarse expressions," (Letters to Son. Vol. I. 



moling Christian Knowledge, in the year 1783, he bears this 
favourable testimony to the virtues of the Poor. 

" If it be enquired t! Whether the poor be capable of 
making any considerable proficiency in the school of Christ?'' 
Experience will answer in the affirmative. With a little plain 
instruction, they can apprehend thearticles of faith as contained 
in the Apostles' Creed, and the rules of practice as laid down in 
the comnmndments. They can learn to trust in God, their 
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier : they cau give him thanks 
for what they have,. and pray to him for what they want. They 
ran love their Saviour, and for his sake shew kindness to their 
brethren, whom he has redeemed. One may often behold, 
among the lower ranks, that attention to the distresses of each 
other, that earnest desire, and, what is of more worth, that 
unwearied endeavour, to remove or alleviate them, which do 
credit to the human heart, wherever they are found. A poor 
per?on, after labouring through the day, will pass the night in 
w atching with a sick neighbour ; while the rich pursue their 
pleasures, the scholar retires to his library, and the virtuoso to 
his cabinet, safe from the importunity of the wretched, and 
where the voice of misery never penetrates. Let not the pride 
of wealth or science look down with contempt upon the poor, 
since they often possess and exhibit that charity which is the end 
of knowlege, the comfort of society, the balm of life ; and by 
his proficiency in which, every man is to be tried, at the judg- 
ment of the great day. — " Hath not God chosen the poor ? Let 
not Man, then, despise them." 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 41 

L. ix. p. 79.) that, where it has been necessary 
to speak upon unseemly subjects, the utmost 
decorum of language has been observed. 

In short, though I do not boast of having 
witnessed the peasantry (nor other ranks of 
men) as having attained the state of mind held 
out to us by pastoral and other poets, as a 
pattern for imitation ; yet I have seen enough 
of Good to rescue them from the general charge 
which seems to be implied in your Letters to 
your Son. (Vol. I. L. ix. p. 78.) I think I 
have seen " the tender passion" in a consider- 
able degree of purity ; that 1 have seen " con- 
tent, disinterestedness, benevolence, simplicity, 
and delicacy" ; and these not inspiring one 
bosom only, but prevailing sufficiently to cha- 
racterize the inhabitants ; and not in one hamlet 
only, but in number sufficient to give me a 
favourable impression of the generality of our 
retired villages, especially where any pains 
have been taken by the clergyman or the prin- 
cipal person in the place to promote civi- 
lization, morals and religion. 

The Poet Burns, who was an accurate 
observer of mankind, formed, at different times 
two societies for the purposes of convivial inter- 
course and mental improvement. Dr. Currie, 
in his Life of Burns, says, " The members of 
e 2 



42 LETTER II. 

these two societies were originally all young 
men from the country, and chiefly sons of far- 
mers ; a description of persons, in the opinion 
of our poet, more agreeable in their manners, 
more virtuous in their conduct, and more sus- 
ceptible of improvement, than the self-sufficient 
mechanics of country -towns", (p. 108.) Pro- 
fessor Stewart, in his Letter to Dr. Currie, in 
the same work, (p. 138.) says, speaking of 
Burns, " He was passionately fond of the 
beauties of nature ; and 1 recollect once he told 
me, when I was admiring a distant prospect in 
one of our morning walks, that the sight of so 
.many smoking cottages gave a pleasure to his 
mind, which none could understand who had 
not witnessed, like himself, the happiness and 
worth which they contained" . 

All that I conceive, therefore, to be necessary 
in writing pastoral or rural poetry is, as in other 
delineations, to select good subjects, and to 
place those in advantageous points of view. In 
short, the poet need not depart farther from the 
rigid truth than the portrait painter ; who, if the 
original have any defect on one side of his face, 
will chuse the other ; will request him to call up 
his most favourable looks ; or, if sickness should 
have given him a pallid cheek, will bestow upon 
him something nearer approaching to the glow of 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 43 

health. You yourself commend " the rural 
character, as delineated in the feelings of 
Thomson", (whom you had before praised for 
" the admirable use" which he has made of the 
" several occasions of introducing draughts of 
human life and manners,") and say, that it " con- 
tains all the softness, purity, and simplicity that 
are feigned of the golden age". (Essay on 
Thomson's Seasons, p. lviii.) You say, p. lvii. 
that " The Poet of the seasons" — " may draw 
pictures of the pastoral life in all its genuine sim- 
plicity ; and assuming the tone of a moral in- 
structor, may contrast the peace and felicity of 
innocent retirement with the turbulent agitations 
of ambition and avarice". Are the Damon and 
Musidora, the Celadon and Amelia, and the 
Palemon and Lavinia, of Thomson, too highly 
charged to be allowed to be portraits ? That 
they are not I conceive you would allow from 
what yon say yourself, when speaking of 
the Love Elegies of Hammond, you mention 
" that in which a picture is drawn of connubial 
love in a country retreat, (Elegy xiii.) with cir- 
cumstances only a little varied from those which 
might really take place in such a situation 
among ourselves. It is the English farmer", 
(you say) " who speaks in the following stanza : 

With timely care I'll sow my little field 

And plant my orchard with its master's hand ; 



44 LETTER II* 

Nor blush to spread the hay, the hook to wield j 
Or range my sheaves along the sunny land. 

He appears afterwards under a more refined 
form, but still suitable enough to aferme or nee : 

What joy to wind along the cool retreat, 

To stop and gaze on Delia as I go ! 
To mingle sweet discourse with kisses sweet, 

And teach my lovely scholar all I know !" 

(Letters on Poetry. L. viii. p. 111.) 

The Pastorals of Gay, though portraits, are in 
several instances too gross and indecent. One of 
the most delightful pastorals with which I am 
acquainted, though it is written in prose, is The 
Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, in the Cheap 
Repository Tracts, written by Mrs. H. More; 
which for genuine and cheerful piety, and for 
excellent delineation of Character, without 
rising above humble life on the one hand, or 
descending into grossness or vulgarity on the 
other, is a production highly worthy the 
attention of the most simple and of the most en- 
lightened understanding*. Several of the other 



* When these Tracts were proposed as proper books to give 
away as rewards to the Children at the New School, at Cam- 
bridge, one of the Governors objected to this story that there 
■were some words which he considered as vulgarisms in it, 
namely the shepherd's talking of " 'pothecary's stuff," and " I 
would work myself to a 'natoray". These are traits of reality 
which, in my estimation, as a representation of life, add to the 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. &5 

Cheap Repository Tracts are of the same 
description, and some of the Rural Tales of 
Robert Eloomfield are of a very pleasing as 
well as natural cast. 

The Ballad which stands first in your pre- 
sent Collection is that very celebrated one by 
Gay. " 'Twas when the seas were roaring", 
which however beautiful the versification may 
be, to my mind presents an unpleasing picture 
of murmuring and despair : 

How can they say that Nature 

Has nothing made in vain ? 
Why then beneath the water 

Do hideous rocks remain ? 

Now, as 

Nature is but the name for an effect 
Whose cause is God. 

Cooper's Task. B. VI. 1. 223. 

I consider all complaints against the works of 
Creation, as murmuring against the Great 



delight of it; and it would be easy and useful to point out to 
children what the proper words are, and how these came to be 
inserted. 

If natural sentiments be expressed with simplicity and feeling, 
evei? unpolished language and false grammar, I conceive, rather 
add to the interest and pleasure of the poem, than offend, as ia 
Mr. Dibdin's Songs of The Token, Tom Tackle, True Courage, 
and some others. 



46 LETTER II* 

Creator. Or, if it be said, that the world is not 
now in the state in which God created it, the 
sentiments which should be excited by whatever 
we suffer through the fall of man from his 
original state of perfection, should be humi- 
liation and resignation. The Song contains no 
good sentiment or instruction of any kind. 

The Ballad which follows it, by the same 
writer, " All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd", 
(p. 3.) is of a much more pleasing kind, being 
a picture of the parting of faithful lovers. The 
seventh stanza, however, appears to me to be 
objectionable, and I accordingly omitted it 
when I inserted the Song in my different Col- 
lections : 

Tho' battle calls me from thy arms, 

Let not my pretty Susan mourn ; 
Tho' cannons roar, yet free from harms 
William shall to his dear return : 
Love turns aside the balls that round me fly, 
Lest precious tears should drop from Susan's eye. 

The fourth line is too positive and presump- 
tuous; and, if Love be put for Cupid, or 
merely a personification of the passion, or we 
will even suppose for a guardian Angel, in the 
first supposition it is heathen, in the second 
and third it is presumptuous, and affirming that 
for which he has no authority. 

Mr. Dibdin, in his Song of The Sailor's 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 47 

Journal, has managed a similar idea with more 
caution : 

Next morn a storm came on at four, 

At six the elements in motion 
Plung'd me and three poor Sailors more 

Headlong within the foaming ocean. 
Poor vrretches ! they soon found their graves, 

For me, it may be only fancy, 
But Love seem'd to forbid the waves 

To snatch me from the arms of Nancy. 

Here, as he speaks of a thing past, had he put 
Providence, I think there could not have been 
any objection : he introduces Providence in the 
next verse : 

Scarce the foul hurricane was clear'd, 
Scarce winds and waves had ceas'd to rattle, 

When a bold enemy appear'd, 
And, dauntless, we prepar'd for battle : 

And now, while some lov'd friend or wife, 
Like lightning, rush'd on ev'ry fancy, 

To Providence I trusted life, 
Put up a prayer, and thought on Nancy. 

The Song of The Maid in Bedlam (p. 5.) owes 
its popularity perhaps to the very beautiful air 
to which it is set. The moral or instruction it 
contains is nothing, unless we take the burden of 
it, " I love my love, because I know my love 
loves me", as a picture of faithful attachment. 
In the third verse 

O should it please the pitying powers to call me to the sky, 
I'll claim a guardian angel's charge around my love to fl} ; &c. 

the claim I consider as presumptuous. 



48 LETTER II. 

We are indebted to you, Sir, for the next 
Song, (p. 6.) which begins with " It was a. 
winter's evening," and which is one of the best 
in the Collection, for the beauty of its versi- 
fication. It contains a useful lesson to parents, 
not to turn their children out of doors and 
expose them to shame, want and despair, even 
though they should have been unhappily be- 
trayed by an artful and faithless Seducer, or 
even with less excuse have been guilty of 
sin. Under this impression, I inserted it in 
the second Volume of my Collection of Songs, 
under the title of The Forsaken Damsel. 
My attention lias, however, been called to 
if, by a friend, to whom I have submitted 
these Letters in manuscript, as likely to make 
a bad impression upon young persons ; as it 
tends to interest the reader in behalf of a dam- 
sel (an unmarried woman) who has had a child, 
while no alleviating previous circumstances 
appear to lessen her guilt, and no subsequent 
penitence to place her in the light of one likely 
to receive forgiveness. Or, more strictly, no 
penitence except what may be conjectured from 
this, that she " cast her eyes to heaven". Now 
a person may do this with various sensations. 
Lady Randolph, in the Tragedy of Douglas, 
is represented as doing this in the act of com- 
mitting suicide : 



ON 1 BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 49 

then lifting up her head 
And her white hands to heaven, seeming to say. 
Why am I fore'd to this ? She piling' d herself 
Into the empty air. Act. V. 

The concluding words of the song are the same 
as those of the first song. In reading them there, 
I felt that there was a want of Christian for- 
titude in the sufferer. And so it seems here. 
Then as to the lad, the father of the child, men- 
tioned in the second verse, the blame cast on 
him is merely for fickleness, for leaving one 
damsel for a richer. He is neither charged 
with seduction, nor is any blame cast upon him 
for that of which he certainly was guilty, the 
having a child before marriage. If he was not 
guilty of seduction, was only guilty in the same 
degree with her, even less, — suppose that she 
was the seducer, — in these cases her guilt is 
increased, and there is no diminution of guilt 
on the whole. 

To give the song, however, the most favour- 
able interpretation possible, it might be that the 
reason for which the damsel's cruel father" shut 
his door" upon her, and her cruel mother 
" such a sight did see", I suppose without 
interfering, was the daughter having married 
-without their consent ; and the gold for which 
the lad left hex love, was that which he hoped 



50 LETTER II. 

to obtain by going to sea. This diminishes the 
guilt of the damsel in whose behalf the song is 
intended to interest us, but increases the cruelty 
of the parents and the husband. It is a pity 
that her precise case was not stated. 

The word despairing in the last verse, I sup- 
pose, means only with respect to her prospects in 
this world, if her casting her eyes to heaven , 
be in penitence and hope. 

However easy the versification of Lo- 
chinvah, (p. 8.) may be, the story surely is 
not one to be related, as if the conduct of Young 
Lochinvar was not wrong in carrying off the 
bride of another man, even though he had first 
paid his addresses to the lady and been refused 
by the father. It does not appear that the 
father had forced the fair Ellen into this mar- 
riage ; and, even if he had, she was not then 
at liberty to forsake him and to go off with 
another. 

In your favourite ballad of Old Robin Gray, 
Jenny, after she has married Robin against her 
own will, at the instigation of her parents, 
thinking her lover Jemmy is dead, when he 
returns, says, 

I darena tbiuk on Jemmy, for that would be a sin. 

She is clear that, being married to another, 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 51 

though her " heart it said nay", gives her, not only 
no licence to attend to her former lover, but 
that thinking on him would be a sin*. 

Rowe's Pastoral of " Despairing beside a 
clear stream" (p. 11.) appears to you (Essay, 
p. xxvii.) u a very perfect example of that 
union of simple language with natural sentiment 
which best suits the kind of fiction adopted, and 
is capable of the most pathetic effects." The 
sentiments, if natural, that is, such as persons 
so situated often make use of, are yet, I think, 
some of them notjust, that is, what they ought to 
be. If the word despairing in the first verse 
may be allowed in the sense before mentioned 
(see p. 50.) yet " 'Twere better by far I had 
died", in the second, is certainly an unwarrant- 
able renunciation of life. And the four last 
lines of verse five, 

** Tho' thro' the wide world we should range, 

'Tis in vain from our fortune to fly ; 
'Twas her's to be false, and to change, 

'Tis mine to be constant and die." 

teaches the doctrine of predestination or fafa- 



* Having mentioned this Song so often without expressing 
my dissent from^Dr. A.'s opinion of it, I think it right to state 
that I cannot altogether agree with him. The general moral of 
it is good ; but Jenny gives way too much to her grief in wishing 
she weredead, and the wreath (or spirit) and ghost are mentioned 
as if there really were such things common amongst us. 



b% LETTER II. 

lism, and to which so many, even in these days, 
are inclined, 

*' when weak women go astray 
Their stars are more iu fault than they." 

I once heard a female who had made an im- 
prudent marriage attribute it, not to her own 
fault, but to the planets. In the last line of the 
Song the Shepherd says, " His Ghost shall 
glide over the green", which will still serve as 
food to the spirit of superstition. 

In the Song " As on a summer's day," 
(p. 13.) verse 3, mention is made of Pan our 
god, as if there really were such a being ; and 
fortune is introduced in the last verse too much 
in the place of Providence, who " giveth and 
taketh away." 

Of the next Song, " To the brook and 
the willow that heard him complain," by 
Howe, (p. 15.) you say " This piece, 
written by the author on the occasion of the 
illness of the lady he afterwards married, has 
all the pathetic of real feeling, though under the 
garb of pastoral fiction." I must confess it 
appears to me to contain much overstrained 
sentiment ; and the fates are introduced, as 
having decreed the loss of his charmer, and, if 
so, " one fate to thy Colin and thee shall be- 
tide." 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 53 

The Song beginning u Daphnis stood pensive 
in the shade", (p. 17.) is not perhaps alto- 
gether a bad lesson to over-coy or coquettish 
maidens ; but the idea 

Nature still speaks in woman's eyes, 
Our artful lips were made to feign. 

is certainly charging upon the Creator, the God 
of Truths what is not just. 

In the next Song (on Alexis, p. 19.) Heaven 
is called upon, to shield us all from Cupid's 
bow ! If Alexis loved Clorinda, why did he 
not declare his love before, rather than silently 
nourish " endless woe" ? and when Clorinda 
heard his passion, if he was an object worthy 
her love, why did she not return it ? and if there 
was any sufficient reason against it, why was 
not that kindly stated, rather than a promise 
claimed 

" ne'er again 
To breathe your vows or speak your pain," while 
" He bow'd, obey'd, and died." 

This concluding line shews a want of for- 
titude in the lover. The love of woman, 
though justly ranking high, is ranked too high 
when a man, on disappointment, falls lifeless. 
The recourse to death for disappointed love 
ought not certainly to receive encouragement 
from Songs or other publications. If suicide 
f2 



54 LETTER II. 

be held forth, the blame is flagrant ; and if it be 
only sinking into death through the violence of 
the disappointment, yet this argues the want of 
a due habit of fortitude, or else a very undue 
comparative estimate of the blessings of life. 

The Song beginning " The sun was sunk 
beneath the hill," (p. 21.) I consider as a libel 
on the female sex, and one of those which do so 
much harm ; some in exalting them above their 
rank in society, and some in degrading them 
below it : but of this I shall treat more at large, 
when I come to speak upon the Amatory, or 
Love Songs. The following is the second 
verse : 

Who seeks to pluck the fragrant rose 
From the hard rock or oozy beach, 

Who from each weed that barren grows 
Expects the grape or downy peach, 

With equal faith may hope to find 

The truth of love in womankind. 

In the 3d verse " A woman's venal heart" is 
mentioned as a general expression, and in the 
4th verse are the following lines, 

How wretched is the faithful youth I 
Since women's hearts are bought and sold r 

They ask no vows of sacred truth, 
Whene'er they sigh, they sigh for gold. 

That I may not be hypercritical, I will not 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 55 

make any remarks to detract from the merit of 
the very beautiful Song of Tweed Side. (p. 23.) 
The Pastoral Ballad by Shenstone, in four 
parts, (p. 24.) appears in general to deserve 
the praise you have bestowed upon it, (Essay 
p. xxviii.) " though unequal in its composition, 
it has given much pleasure to all who were 
capable of entering into the delicacies of the 
soft passion in its purest form." But, in the 
last verse of the first part, (p. 26.) I find 
Cory don talking of the vows and devotion he 
owes to Phyllis, and, Part 2. v. 6., (p. 28.) 
so much I her accents adore. Part 3. v. 2. 
(p. SO.) he says 

I couldlay down my life for the swain, 
Who will sing but a Song in her praise. 

Part 4. v. 3. (p. 32.) he says of 

" nymphs of a higher degree : 
It is not for me to explain 
How fair and how fickle they be". 

v. 5. (p. 33.) Fate is introduced as having 
" never bestow'd such delight" ; and v. 6. on 
account of his Disappointment, he says, 

I would hide with the beasts of the chase, 

certainly not a sentiment for a rational being, 
much less for a Christian. 



56 LETTER n. 

Of Cunningham, the " admirer and imitator" 
of Shenstone, you say, (Essay, p. xxviii.) that 
he u has at least equalled him in some pieces 
written in his manner." In his Pastoral To the 
Memory of William Shenstone, Esq. (p. 34.) 
I find the following verse : 

No verdure shall cover the vale, 

No bloom on the blossoms appear ; 
The sweets of the forest shall fail, 

And winter discolour the year. 
No birds in our hedges shall sing, 

(Our hedges so vocal before) 
Since he that should welcome the spring 

Can greet the gay season no more. 

If this be a wish, it is uncharitable ; if it be pre- 
dictive or declarative, it is presumptuous and 
profane. 

Cunningham's second Pastoral on Content,' 
(p. 35.) with which you close this class of 
Songs, I have myself given with some trifling 
alterations in the second volume of my Col- 
lection. It had been better, perhaps, if I had 
made even farther alterations in the third stanza. 



I am, Sir, with great respect, 
Your &c. 






ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 57 

POSTSCRIPT. 

As it is ray wish, Sir, to make this work a re- 
view of your former publication, now re-edited by 
Mr. Evans, as well as of your present work, I 
shall annex Postscripts to the Letters on those 
classes of Songs, which have, as in this case, a 
direct parallel in the former, or which bear the 
nearest resemblance to them, noticing those 
pieces which are omitted in your Vocal Poetry ; 
reserving for a separate Letter those which are 
added by Mr. Evans. 

In the Class of Ballads and Pastoral Songs, the 
first is the very beautiful Ballad of The Friar 
of Orders Gray, by Dr. Percy, (p. 37.) 
upon which I have few observations to make. 
The salutation in the second verse, " Now 
Christ thee save", is a proof that the most sacred 
names may, be introduced with propriety into 
such compositions. Verse 5, &c. the Friar tells 
a downright falshood, which I think should have 
beeu managed in a different way. V. 11. The 
lady wishes to die because her lover, as she sup- 
poses, is dead, which she has not a right to do. 
Her grief is very beautifully reproved in the two 
following verses. 

The Hermit of Goldsmith, (p. 42.) upon 
n similar story, avoids the falshood of which I 



58 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER II. 

complain in the former. It is to my mind a 
most beautiful Ballad, and far superior to such 
as Lord Ronald and Cadyow Castle. What 
the author says upon friendship and love is too 
severe, and the expression " where heaven and 
you reside" is going too far in praise : the fol- 
lowing verse is admirable ; 

In humble simplest habit clad, 
No wealth nor power had lie ; 

Wisdom and worth were all he had, 
But these were all to me. 

Angelina is too ready to " lay her down and 
die." 

Colin and Lucy, by Tickell, (p. 49.) 
has certainly a moral purpose, being intended 
as a warning to young men to keep the vows 
they make to their sweet-hearts. But the fol- 
lowing verses will encourage superstition in 
weak minds : 

Three times all in the dead of night 

A bell was heard to ring ; 
And shrieking at her window thrice, 

The raven flupp'd her wing. 

Too well the love-lorn maiden knew 

The solemn-boding sound, 
And thus in dying words bespoke 

The maidens weeping round. 

" I hear a voice you cannot hear, 
W r hich says I must not stay ; 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 59 

I see a hand you 1 cannot see, 
Which beckons me away. 

She afterwards dies, her corpse meets Colin, 
as lie is returning from his wedding with another 
woman, he falls down dead and is buried in the 
same grave with her, and the poem concludes 
with the following warning : 

Bur, swain forsworn, whoe'er thou art, 

This hallow'dspot forbear! 
Remember Colin's dreadful fate, 

And fear to meet him there, 

i 

Does him mean fate personified, or Colin, that 
is, his ghost? I suppose the latter, and 
therefore think it objectionable. 

On the belief in Ghosts, and the support 
which it receives from such productions as 
William and Margaret, (p. 53.) I have 
given my opinion in a former work : See The 
Notes annexed to my Discourses on sub- 
jects RELATING TO THE AMUSEMENT OF 

the Stage, p. 143, 147. 

Ygu, Sir, in the first volume of your Letters 
to your Son, (L. xxi. On the prevalence of 
Truth, p. 222.) seem to entertain sentiments 
not \>ery dissimilar: u many of those subjects 
in which false opinions are most prevalent, lay 
such hold on the weak parts of man, his pas- 
sions and affections, that he is in general inca- 



GO POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER II. 






pacitated from making proper use of the expe- 
rience of past ages, and seems doomed to run a 
perpetual round of the same follies and mistakes. 
Tli is is the cause why reason has not been able 
to do more in abolishing superstition. Various 
species of it have occasionally been rendered 
unfashionable by ridicule or detection ; but the 
principle itself keeps its hold in the human 
breast, ready to seize every opportunity of 
regaining all the influence it may have lost. In 
countries the most enlightened by science and 
letters, it is wonderful how much superstition is 
constantly lurking among the vulgar of all ranks, 
nay, among the enlightened themselves : for 
where the temper disposes to it, both learning 
and science may be made to afford additional 
materials for it to work upon. A faith in 
omens, prophesies, and horoscopes, in fortunate 
names and numbers, in warnings and appa- 
ritions, in supernatural cures, and other frau- 
dulent pretensions respecting the principal 
objects of hope and fear, is no more likely at 
the present day to be eradicated, than it was at 
any former period. Reason has no greater 
power over these delusions, than the Roman 
senate had over the influence of the Chaldean 
soothsayers : " Genus hominum (says Tacitus) 
quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper, et 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 61 

retinebitur." It has rendered them in a certain 
degree discreditable, and reduced them to ope- 
rate more in secret than formerly, and more 
individuals have been freed from their sway ; 
but he must know little of the actual state of 
things who supposes their present influence to be 
inconsiderable, or, perhaps, diminishing." And, 
afterwards, in Letter xxv. which contains 
" Remarks on an argument in favour of the 
Reality of Spectral appearances", which argu- 
ment is Dr. Johnson's, put into the mouth of 
the Sage, Imlac, in his Rasselas,you say (p. 281.) 
"It may be further observed, that with regard 
to supposed spectral appearances, the idea of 
them has, in different countries and ages, re- 
ceived such variations as might be expected 
from the operation of the fancy modified by 
variety of circumstances. One remarkable di- 
versity is, that similar things are represented as 
passing in a vision and in reality ; and sometimes 
it is not easy to say which of the two is in- 
tended." After giving instances from Virgil 
and Ovid, you say (p. 283.) " It would be 
easy to multiply instances in which the poets, 
those faithful recorders of popular superstitions, 
have thus wavered between vision and reality in 
their representations of the commerce with 

G 



62 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER II. 

aerial beings."* With these references and 
these extracts I shall rest Margaret's Ghost, and 
proceed to Edwin and Emma, (p. 73.) It 
exhibits a beautiful picture of a delicate pas- 
sion between the lovers, as related in the fol- 
lowing verse : 

A mutual flame was quickly caugbt, 

Was quickly too reveal'd ; 
For neither bosom lodg'd a wish, 

Which virtue keeps conceal'd. 

The lesson too to parents and relatives not to 
oppose virtuous love, merely because the ob- 
ject may have no fortune, is valuable ; but, 



* In the Letter by the Poet Burns to Dr. Moore, giving an 
account of his life, there is a very curious passage to this effect : 
** In my infant and boyish days, too, I owed much to an old wo- 
man who resided in the family, remarkable for her ignorance, 
credulity and superstition. She had, I suppose, the largest 
collection in the country of tales and songs concerning devils, 
ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks, spunkies, kelpies, 
elf-candles, dead-lights, wraiths, apparitions, cantraips, giants, 
enchanted towers, dragons and other trumpery. This culti- 
vated the latent seeds of poetry ; but had so strong an effect on 
my imagination, that to this hour, in my nocturnal rambles, 1 
sometimes keep a sharp look-out in suspicious places; and 
though nobody can be more sceptical than I am in such matters, 
yet it often takes an effort of philosophy to shake off these idle 
terrors." (See Dr. Currie's Edition of Burn's Works. Vol. I. 
p. 37.) 



ON BALLADS AND PASTORAL SONGS. 03 

here^ likewise, there is food for superstition. 
After Emma's last interview with Edwin it is 
stated, 

Now, homeward, as she, hopeless, went 

The Church-yard path along, 
The blast blew cold, the dark owlscream'd 

Pier lover's fuu'ral Song. 

Amid the falling gloom of night, 

Her startling fancy found 
In every bush his hovering shade, 

His groan in every sound. 

In the last verse but one Emma talks of her 
lover's angel face. The comparing human 
beings to angels I certainly do not approve. 
Mr. Walter Scott, in his Lady of the Lake, 
has done this with more reserve than poets 
generally practise, as he makes the comparison 
with an if. The lines are so beautiful that they 
are well deserving of insertion in this place : 

Some feelings are to mortals given, 

With less of earth in them than heaven; 

And if there be a hnman tear 

From passion's dross refin'd and clear, 

A tear so limpid and so meek, 

It wouldnotstain an angel's cheek, 

'Tis that which pious fathers shed 

Upon a duteous daughter's head ! P. 73. 

In the last verse of this Ballad of Edwin and 
Emma, it is said, " She shiver'd, sigh'd, and 
died", on which subject see before, p. 53. 



64 • POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER H. 

Nancy op the Vale, by Shenstone, " The 
western sky was purpled o'er", (p. 77.) is a 
very beautiful Ballad, and is given, with some 
small alterations, in the second Volume of my 
Collection. You have omitted it (for which I 
can see no reason) in your late Volume. 



To illustrate my ideas on this subject still far- 
ther, and to afford my readers some relief from 
continued comment, I shall subjoin some spe- 
cimens of what appear to me to be good Ballads 
and Pastoral Songs, or rather what I will call 
by the more appropriate name of Rural Songs. 



65 
BALLADS 

AND 

RURAL SONGS. 



I. 

THE SAILOR'S LOVE'S CONSOLATION. 



BY MRS. SLEATH. 



1 

Hush'd was the storm — the fleet unmoor'd, 

The top-sails floated on the wind, 
And many a gallant youth aboard, 

Sigh'd for the maid he left behind. 
2 
But earnest vows and looks of love, 

Were most to gentle Mary giv'n, 
Vows such as angels might approve, 

And hear — and register in Heaven ! 
3 
Far off her Henry's voice she hears, 

He calls — she answers ; but in vain ; 
Hark ! tis the gun — Fast flow her tears ; 

The vessel rides along the main. 
g 2 



66 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

4 

Awhile sweet hope her bosom cheers, 
Though absent yet their hearts are join'd, 

Henry may bless her future years ; 
This stilPd the anguish of her mind. 

5 

But ah ! what terrors wait the Fair, 
Whose love on trackless seas is tost ! 

She hears, half frantic with despair, 

The vessel's wreck'd — her Henry's lost. 

6 

Impatient griefs her bosom tear, 

She raves — she weeps — nor comfort feels, 
Victim of woe and wild despair, 

She thus her sorrowing heart reveals. 

7 

"Ah, wretched maid! unlov'd, unknown! 

" Bereft of ev'ry earthly joy ! 
H Ne'er shalt thou cease thy loss to mourn, 

" And weep thy Henry's destiny. 

8 

46 The treasur'd sorrow, now so dear, 
" Still cherish'd in thy breast shall live ; 

"Its keenest pangs thy heart revere, 
" 'Twere sinful couldst thou cease to grieve." 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 67 

9 

She stops. — A voice in accents mild, 
Calm as the Zephyr- — far more sweet, 

Salutes her, " Cease, sad sorrow's child, 
" Nor rash that sentiment repeat ! 

10 

" Heav'n, for our good, afflictions dire 

" In mercy as in wisdom sends ; 
" Thither then bid thy thoughts aspire, 

" And make the hosts of Heav'n thy friends.' ' 

11 

She turn'd to view what it might be, 
That thus the friendly precept gave ; 

One learn'd in heav'nly truths was he, 
Who came to counsel and to save. 

12 

And now the blessed Book he brought, 

And many a holy teid to prove, 
How Heav'n is ne'er unmov r d when soughtj 

And oft chastises most in love. 

13 

Affliction's path himself had trod, 
Tost on the world's delusive shore, 

Till his heart fasten'd on his God, 
And knew despondence now no more. 



68 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

14 

She heard. The troublous errors fled, 

Chas'd by Truth's brightening beams they 
flew! 

And soon she bless'd the power which led 
The sage that did her steps pursue. 

15 

His words — his looks — his precepts mild, 
His patient hope — his faith confest, 

The mourner of her griefs beguil'd, 
And calm'd the tempests' in hjsr breast. 



II. 
EDGAR AND ELLA. 

BY MR. JAMES LAMB. 



1 

The night was dark, and awful was the scene, 
The wind blew high and loud the billows 
roar'd, 

The snow came drifting, and the frost how keen, 
The heath, alas I no shelter could afford. 

2 
'Twas then young Edgar bent his trackless way 
Ella to meet, by whom he was belov'd, 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 69 

Whose charms held o'er his heart despotic sway* 
They'd own'd their passions^ and their sires 
approv'd. 

3 
The proudest gifts, great Nature e'er bestow'd 

On mortals, sure this virtuous pairpossest, 
With wealth too, were they bounteously en- 
dow 'd, 
And nought they lack'd to make each othcF 
blest. 

4 
But to the will of all-disposing Heaven 

Ere 'tis accomplish'd human eyes arc blind ; 
For down a precipice where snow was driven 

He fell, and to his God his soul resign'd. 

5 
Some days elaps'd, when Ella, in despair, 
Found the drear spot that Edgar's corse 
contain 'd, 
In wild distraction then she tore her hair, 
And in most impious terms high Heaven 
arraign'd. 

6 

Reason at length recall'd this lovelorn maid, 
Who piously for pardon bent her knee ; 

She woo'd her dear religion's balmy aid 
And nevermore repin'd at God's decree. 



70 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

III. 

THE TOKEN. 

BY MR. DIBDIN. 
1 

The breeze was fresh, the ship in stays, 
Each breaker hush'd, the shore a haze, 
When Jack, no more on duty calPd, 
His true-love's tokens overhaul'd : 

The broken gold, the braided hair, 
The tender motto, writ so fair, 
Upon his 'bacco-box he views, 
Nancy the poet, love the muse : 

" If you loves I as I loves you, 
No pair so happy as we two." 

2 
The storm — that like a shapeless wreck, 
Had strew'd with rigging ail the deck, 
That tars for sharks had given a feast, 
And left the ship a hulk — had ceas'd : 

When Jack, as with his messmates dear 
He shar'd the grog, their hearts to cheer, 
Took from his 'bacco-box a quid, 
And spelt, for comfort, on the lid, 
" If you loves I as I loves you, 
No pair so happy as we two." 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 71 

3 

The battle — that with horror grim, 
Had madly ravag'd life and limb, 
Had scuppers drench'd with human gore, 
And widow'd many a wife — was o'er : 

When Jack, to his companions dear, 

First paid the tribute of a tear, 

Then, as his 'bacco-box he held, 

Restor'd his comfort as he spell'd, 
" If you loves I as I loves you, 
No pair so happy as we two." 

4 

The voyage — that had been long and hard. 
But that had yielded full reward ; 
That brought each sailor to his friend, 
Happy and rich — was at an end : 

When Jack, his toils and perils o'er, 

Beheld his Nancy on the shore, 

He then the 'bacco-box display 'd, 

And cried, and seiz'd the willing maid ; 
iC If you loves I as I loves you, 
No pair so happy as we two." v 



72 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

IV. 

THE NEW 

SIR JOHN BARLEYCORN. 



The Barleycorns throughout our isle 

Are a numerous family, 
And, if thou'lt listen for a while, 

Their fame my theme shall be» 

2 

But of that branch I tell alone, 

Which in a village fair, 
For truth and honesty were known 

By all the dwellers there. 

3 

John Barleycorn, of whom I speak, 

A servant long had been, 
And none could say, e'en in a freak, 

He e'er got drunk with him. 

4 

The Clergyman, the Justice too, 

As well I understand, 
Familiarly, John was so true, 

Would take him by the hand. 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 



Plump in his make, in russet coat, 
And what but strange appear'd, 

When of ripe age, you well might note 
He wore a long stiff beard. 

6 

John's master said he was so pieas'd 

With services so rare, 
So much his toils and cares he'd eas'd, 

He should his substance share. 

7 
Ten acres of new-broken land 

He did assign him then, 
And said there waited his command 

His horses, carts and men. 

8 

Id this new situation John 

Began to thrive amain, 
A num'rous family anon 

The land did well maintain. 

9 

The sun, the wind, the rain and dew, 

All seem'd as for them giv'n, 
And, while in health and strength they grew. 

They rais'd their heads to Heav'n. 

H 



74 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

10 

Meanwhile his master, still intent 

To serve and do him good, 
Near him a house prepar'd, and sent 

To say how matters stood. 

11 

The village all, with joy elate 
To see John once more come, 

Repair'd th' event to celebrate, 
And, shouting, brought him home. 

12 

Here John, beneath his master's eye, 

Secure and happy dwelt, 
His master could his faults espy, 

But all his virtues felt. 

13 

The richest ears have still their straw, 

Its chaff the fairest grain, 
With chastening hand he'd vice withdraw, 

And virtue would retain. 

14 

Thenceforth was John a better wight, 

Of greater worth confest ; 
In his own phrase, he was clean dight 9 

His neighbours said well drest. 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. iO 

15 

At length a jlood assail'd good John, 

For two long nights and days, 
No harm it did, he thriv'd thereon, 

This truth th' Exciseman says. 

16 

Without a figure I would say, 

That John was fairly steeped. 
And a warm man he grew, but lay 

Longer, and soundly slept. 

17 

But this indulgence, it is said, 

From sloth did not arise, 
" Early at morn, early to bed'* 

His maxim was most wise. 

18 

Another truth is, as I've heard, 

Tho' John was highly tax'd, 
He never spoke a grumbling word, 

Nor 's loyalty relax'd. 

19 

AJire, then, both fierce and strong, 

In threat'ning aspect rose, 
But, timely quench'd, there nought was wrong, 

It sweeten' d his repose 



16 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

20 

At length he enter'd on a Mill, 

His usual fortune there 
Attended him, he flourished still, 

More rich his virtues were. 

21 

His hand at brewing next he tried. 
Success was more and more, 

Such beer, such ale, his friends all said 
Ne'er tasted was before. 

22 

No roguery in him was found, 
No drugs from chemists' shops, 

His beer was always good and sound, 
'Twas made of malt and hops. 



At length, John Barleycorn, 'tis said, — 
Nor think I'm speaking scorn, — 

For so much worth a Knight was made, 
Fam'd Sir John Barleycorn. 



Unknown if with Address to court 
From borough-town he went, 

Or service in the field he wrought, 
And life in glory spent. 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 77 

25 

Our second Charles, of fame facete', 

On loin of beef did dine, 
He held his broad sword o'er the meat, 

And dub'd it then Sir Loin. 

26 
But whether then the nut-brown ale, 

In silver tankard borne, 
Receiv'd like honour, records fail 

In th' house of Barleycorn. 

27 
Suffice it that he is a Knight 

For service to the State, 
And may we all his love requite, 

His fame still celebrate. 

28 

Long Life to Sir John Barleycorn 

1 drink with all my heart : 
Put round, my boys, the drinking-horn, 

But sober let us part. 

J. P. 



h 2 



78 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

y. 

THE PEASANT. 

1 

The peasant's blest, who in his cot, 

Secure from flatt'ry and deceit, 
The bread his honest labour got, 

In peace can eat. 
2 
Whose family to cloathe and feed 

Does each new day his hands employ, 
But toils, well pleas'd, th' approaching need 

To satisfy. 
3 
O happy state, which so contents ! 
Who's cheerful, tho' he's poor ; 
Who asks of Heav'n what nature wants, 

But asks no more. 
4 
The miser's fears ne'er rack his breast, 

Each night he lays him down in peace ; 
No dreams of rapine break his rest. 

He sleeps at ease. 
5 
Rises each morn with early dews. 

Salutes with joy the welcome day ; 
And in the fields his toil pursues, 

With spirits gay. 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 79 

6 

When nature calls for nourishment, 
On some soft mossy bank he sits, 
And food that's sweeten'd by content, 

He thankful eats. 

7 

Nor guilt, nor fear his joys dismay, 

Each thought fresh comfort brings ; 
Thus happy all the livelong day, 

He works and sings. 

8 

But when the sun retracts his rays, 

And evening smoaks from chimneys come ; 
Then, thoughtless, with an easy pace, 

Goes whistling home. 

9 

There he his leisure hours enjoys, 
Laughing at merry tale or jest, 
Till sleep o'erpowers his weary eyes ; 

Then goes to rest. 

10 

Thus steal away his earthly days, 

In health, content, and ease, 
Till he the debt of nature pays, 

And dies in peace. 



80 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

11 

Each neighboring peasant weeps his end, 

Dropping a kind unfeigned tear ; 
And mourns for his departed friend, 

With heart sincere. 
12 
O Heav'n ! let me such bliss enjoy, 

Crown'd with content, and free from blame ; 
And may good deeds, whene'er 1 die, 

Record my fame. 
J. W. 



VI. 
THE LABOURER'S WELCOME HOME. 

BY MR. DIBDIN. 
1 

The Ploughman whistles o'er the furrow, 
The Hedger joins the vacant strain, 

The Woodman sings the woodland thorough, 
The Shepherd's pipe delights the plain : 

Where'er the anxious eye can roam, 
Or ear receive the jocund pleasure, 

Myriads of beings thronging flock 
Of nature's song to join the measure, 
Till to keep time the village clock 
Sounds, sweet, the labourer's welcome home. 



BALLADS AND RU5AL SONGS. 81 

2 

Tlie hearth swept clean, his partner smiling, 

Upon the shining table smoaks 
The frugal meal ; while, time beguiling, 

The ale the harmless jest provokes : 

Ye inmates of the lofty dome, 

Admire his lot — his children, playing, 

To share his smiles around him flock, 
And faithful Tray, since morn that straying 
Trudg'd with him, till the village clock 
Proclaim'd the labourer's welcome home. 

3 
The cheering faggot burnt to embers, 

While Angels round their vigils keep, 
That Power, that poor and rich remembers, 

Each thanks, and then retires to sleep : 

And now, the Lark climbs heav'n's high dome, 
Fresh from repose, toil's kind reliever, 

And furnish'd with his daily stock, 
His dog, his staff, his keg, his beaver, 
He travels, till the village clock 
Sounds, sweet, the labourer's welcome home. 



82 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

VII. 
YOUNG WILLIAM, THE LABOUI 



1 

The pride of the Village young William was 

seen, 
So mild in his temper, so comely in mien, 
At church no one e'er was more constant 

than he, 
Of his age, no one labour'd more hearty and 

free. 
He had entered, exulting, his twenty -fifth year, 
And a wife and a babe did his cottage endear, 
No vice nor excess had enfeebled his strength, 
And his years seem'd to promise to run their 

full length. 

'Twas his lot, with two others, in Harvest to 

mow, 
Who, by their rude strength, all his powers 

could out go, 
And, the talk running high on the portion of 

work 
To be done by the man who disdain'd e'er to 

shirk , 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 83 

A trial of strength and of skill was agreed, 
And applause was to crown him who best should 

succeed ; 
With the first of the mom was the trial begun, 
And it ended when down in the west set the sun. 

3 

From morn until eve, with his might and his 

main, 
Young William encounter'd the veteran twain, 
He toiPd and he labour 'd, and when the sun set, 
Young William these two season'd mowers had 

beat; 
But dear was his triumph, for, ah ! the sunk sun 
Was an emblem too true of die course he had run, 
O'er-toil'd, his young frame had sustain'd a 

rude shock, 
Tho' his health, ere that day,^seem'd as firm as 

a rock. 



A few weeks he linger'd, Consumption's chill 

hand 
Had seiz'd on a frame unprepar'd to withstand ; 
E'en the care and the kindness the Hospital 

gave 
Could not stay his quick course to the house of 

the grave. 



84 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

Too late he lamented his fool-hardy boast, 
And all his fair prospects so fatally crost ; 
His errors confess'd, hope arose in his mind, 
And to God's gracious mercy his soul he 

resign'd. 

5 
Oh ! you, in the vigour of life's joyous prime, 
Whose industry, spirits and health keep due time, 
Be warn'd by Young William, nor, eager for 

fame, 
Destroy prematurely a strong healthy frame. 
And, you, who ere this some bad course have 

begun, 
Love the virtues of William, his faults only shun ; 
And if his example vain-glory restrain, 
Nor his life, nor his death, is recorded in vain. 

J. P. 



VIII. 
PATTY. 

BY WILLIAM HALLOWAY. 
1 

When morning first open'd her dew-dripping 
eye, 
And the tapers of night disappear'd, 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 85 

While the light curling streams on the blue 
river lie, 
And the mill-wheel at distance is heard, 

2 
With her pail on her head, and a-kimbo her 
arms, 
Young Pattv, the pride of the vale, 
Unconscious of half her superlative charms, 
Trod the meadows, and breath'd the sweet 
gale. 

3 
Each shepherd that pass'd her look'd wishful 
behind, 
Admiring her shape and her air ; 
The cows hear her call, on their green bed 
reclin'd, 
And rising, to meet her, repair. 
.4 
The plowman who once shar'd her hand in the 
dance, 
That triumph could never forget ; 
Each sweet artless smile would the favour 
enhance, 
And render the rapture complete ! 

5 
But Patty, at length, of her beauty grown vain, 
Relinquish' d the vale for the town ; 

i 



86 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

And listen'd to Flatt'ry's mellifluent strain, 
Till her peace and her comforts were gone 

6 

Then oft, while the salt tear bedew'd her dark 
eye, 
She reflected on pleasures long past ; 
Nor shepherd, nor plowman attended her sigh, 
As the moments of youth ran to waste. 

7 
O, poor helpless maiden ! more blest hadst thou 
been, 
Had Nature but form'd thee less fair, 
Or made thee, — still bounding each wish to 
the green, 
Some peasant's ambition and care. 



IX. 
LOVE AND PRUDENCE. 

BY WILLIAM HOLLOWAY. 
1 

I have a Cottage in the glen, 

Beneath a pear-tree's ample shade, 

Far from the turbulence of men, 
Their haunts of pleasure and parade. 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 87 

Of wealth have I no boasted mine, 
No liveried slaves to wait on thee ; 

But, Cath'rine, all my heart is thine, 
If thou wilt share this cot with me, 

Parents of sordid mind have said 

We cannot live on love alone ; 
But Industry shall lend its aid, 

And Competence shall be our own. 

I know we cannot live on love ; 

But without love we live in vain ; 
Whate'er we boast, where'er we rove, 

'Tis solitude and useless gain. 
8 
Romantic Love may fondly sigh 

To riot on a damask cheek ; 
May fix the glance of Beaut y 9 s eye, 

And cause her artless heart to break. 

'Tis cruel Love that weds the maid 

With Care and Poverty in view — 
But, Catherine ! I this truth have weigh'd, 

If small our means, our wants are few. 
4 
Can you a little dairy tend, 

While in the neighb'ring fields I toil ; 
Amongst the jolly reapers bend, 

Or hold the plough, or sow the soil ? 



$S BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

Can you, amid the swathes of hay, 
Contented share the frugal meal ; 

And, ever unreserv'd and gay, 
Around your ale and cider deal ? 

5 

At home can you knit, brew, or bake. 
Or bind the fleece on shearing days ? 

Or while the orchard trees I shake, 
The heap of ruddy apples raise ? 

Can you the chicken -brood attend, 
And careful watch the summer-hive ? 

In garden toils assistance lend, 
And bid young vegetation thrive ? 

6 

Thus fragrant roses, white and red, 
The pink and sweet carnation too — 

The blushing flow'rs of ev'ry bed, 

Shall borrow half their charms from you, 

And, chiefly, can you love a youth 
Whose heart for you alone is free ? 

Then, Cath'rine! in the bonds of truth, 
Oj come, and share my cot with me ! 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 89 

X. 

ESTIMATE OF RURAL HAPPINESS. 

BF WILLIAM HOLLOWAY. 



1 

Behold yon Cottage in the vale, 
Just o'er the hedge its roof uprear ! 

Where Labour breathes the balmy gale : 
They tell me Happiness is there. 

2 

Dearly the charm of birds I love ; 

The lapse of streams ; the scent of hay ; 
The flowers that deck the mead and grove : 

With all the rural sweets of May : 

3 

I love the forest-walks ; ripe fields ; 

The silence and the shade at noon ; 
And bow'rs the fruitful orchard yields, 

Beneath the clear autumnal moon. 

4 

But in the cot remote and low, 

Do wayward passions never dwell ; 

Do fierce resentments never glow ,- 
Dissensions rage, nor Envy swell ? 
i 2 



90 BALI/ADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

5 

Ah ! 'tis not in the shade obscure 
That Peace and Quiet must abound ; 

Nor in the dwellings of the poor 
Is calm Contentment always found. 

6 

Alas ! they err, who fondly dream 
Of local bliss to man assign'd : 

This has no residence, I deem, 
But in the meek and tranquil mind : 

7 
And of the pearl is he possest, 

Who acts on heav'nly wisdom's plan ; 
And feels, within his grateful breast, 

A heart at peace with God and Man ! 



XI. 
THE HAPPY MAN, 

A GLEE. 



Happy the man who far from public view. 
Lives to himself and to the faithful few, 
Shuns the vain walks of bustle and parade, 
And tunes his spirit in the silent shade : 



BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 91 

The native wood, the solitary scene, 
The low-roof d cottage, and the vernal green, 
The flocks, the herds,'the hill, the rill, the grove, 
Tempt not his heart in devious paths to rove ; 
To sigli for fame, to heed the proud man's way, 
To court the rich, and be as poor as they : 
But, free to guide the plough, or reap the plain, 
To house the harvest, or to thresh the grain ; 
In one calm tenor life serenely flows, 
Few are his wants his wishes and his woes ; 
As tranquil streams his steady moments run, 
And humble nature charms her patient son. 






XII. 

THE SEASONS. 

Tune : " How blest the maid" in Love in a Village. 

1 
With us alike each season suits, 

The spring's rich fragrant flowers, 
The summer shade, the autumn fruits, 

And winter's social hours. 

A bleating flock, a humble cot, 

Of simple food a store, 
This is a blest and envied lot, 

My wish is not for more. 



92 BALLADS AND RURAL SONGS. 

XIIJ. 
PEACE. 

From Colley Cither's Birth-day Ode in 1746. 



From arms discharg'd, the listed swain 
To rural life returns again : 
With usual glee he tills the soil, 
And whistles jocund to the toil. 

Or in the green, in dance or song, 
He wins the garland from the throng ; 
And now he melts the maiden heart, 
Now never, never more to part. 



LETTER III. 

ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 



Sept. 7, 181ft. 
SIR, 

The Songs now to be taken into consideration 
are of great importance, at least the Moral 
Songs, so far as they can be distinguished from 
the Miscellaneous. Even in a general Collec-* 
tion we have a right to require that nothing 
contrary to sound morality be admitted ; but 
in Songs bearing the title of Moral, we may 
require each Song to inculcate some moral sen- 
timent, and may claim with peculiar force a 
total abstinence from every thing of immoral 
tendency. In your Essay (p. xxx.) you say, 
" Moral topics, however, have not been entirely 
excluded from song-writing, and several pleas- 
ing productions of this kind exist, in which 
content, moderation, and the tranquil enjoyment 
of life, are inculcated." 

Yon then proceed to remark upon a peculiar 
turn which, in ancient and modern Songs, has 
been given to reflections on our short life and 
uncertain affairs, in these words : " There is 



94 LETTER III. 

another fund of moral sentiment, if it may be so 
termed, from which both ancient lyric poetry 
and modern songs have drawn deeply. This is 
the epicurean system of ethics, which, from t3ie 
consideration of the shortness of life, and the 
uncertainty of human affairs, derives an in- 
centive to present pleasure. This theme we find 
perpetually recurring in the Odes of Anacreon 
and Horace, whence it has been transplanted 
into the gay and vocal poetry of modern times, 
of which it constitutes the prevailing strain of 
sentiment. In a certain temperate degree it 
coalesces with the rational philosophy before 
mentioned. When carried further, it may 
justly excite the censure of the moralist, what- 
ever indulgence be pleaded for it on the grounds 
of precedent and poetical fitness." Afterwards, 
(p. xlvii.) you say, that such Moral Songs 
" have been chosen" for your collection " as 
inculcate a kind of calm and reasonable philo- 
sophy, not so severe as to be inconsistent with 
the cheerfulness of vocal music in society, and 
corresponding with some of the sober strains of 
the Horatianlyre." 

I should not be inclined, Sir, to differ much 
from you in these sentiments, did not some of i 
the songs afterwards introduced go far beyond 
what I conceive to be the proper boundary of 






ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 95 

Content , Moderation, a tranquil Enjoyment of 
Life, Cheerfulness, and a reasonable Philo- 
sophy. And.* therefore, as I conceive this to be 
a better place for saying something upon the 
question, than afterwards, when we come to the 
particular Songs, we will enter upon it now. 
That something of this kind is sanctioned by the 
principles of the Gospel I am ready to allow. 
Our Saviour himself, in his Sermon on the 
Mount, says, u Take no thought for the mor- 
row ; for the morrow shall take thought for the 
things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the 
evil thereof." (Matt. vi. 34.) Bishop Home, 
in his admirable and beautiful Sermon on this 
text, contrasts it with those precepts which 
" suppose a continuation of life, and a want of 
the means which are necessary to support it" ; 
as " The hand of the diligent maketh rich;" 
(Prov. x. 4.) " If any man will not work, 
neither shall he eat ;" (2 Thes. iii. 10.) " Go 
to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways 
and be wise : which, having no guide, overseer, 
or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and 
gathereth her food in the harvest" ; (Prov. vi. 
6 — 8.) " The Parents ought to lay up for the 
Children" ; (2 Cor. xii. 14.) and says, " that 
the Greek word, here rendered take no thought, 
signifies properly, be not anxious, solicitous, 



96 LETTER III. 

miserable, about to-morrow ; literally and 
strictly, be not of a doubtful, divided mind " 
and that, at the time our translation was made, 
" the expression to take thought", did " gene- 
rally denote the very thing which" the Greek 
word means, " namely, to take anxious thought, 
or to be anxiously careful, to be uneasy." 

There is also another Sermon of Bishop 
Home's, On the blessing of a cheerful heart, 
" A merry heart doth good like a medicine", 
Prov. xvii. 22. in which he shews, that it is 
the duty of a Christian to be cheerful, producing 
several similar texts from Scripture, and saying 
" It is evidently intended, in these sentences, 
to discountenance a gloomy discontented cast of 
mind, and to recommend in its stead, that habit 
of being pleased ourselves, and of pleasing 
others, which is best expressed in English, by 
the word cheerfulness : I say habit, because 
herein it stands distinguished from those tran-* 
sient ' flashes of merriment', which are often 
succeeded by an answerable depression of 
spirits, and are therefore, by our author, in 
another place, compared to " the crackling of 
thorns under a pot"; (Eccles. vii. 6.) they 
blaze for a moment, and expire for ever ; 
whereas cheerfulness is even and constant; 
though it blaze less, it warms more, and has 



ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 97 

been very properly called the sunshine of 
lite." 

But, in connection with these, we are to con- 
sider those other texts, which censure the very 
sentiments contained in the songs ; as, where St. 
Paul, (1 Cor. xv. 32.) quotes the Epicurean 
maxim, " Let us eat and drink* for to-morrow 
we die" ; and immediately adds, " Be not de- 
ceived : Evil communications corrupt good 
manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; 
for some have not the knowledge of God. I 
speak this to your shame". (V. 33, 34.) 
Again, (I Cor. vii. 29—32.) " I say, brethren, 
the time is short. It remaineth that" " they 
that weep, be as though they wept not ; and they 
that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not ; and 
they that buy, as though they possessed not ; and 
they that use this world, as not abusing it: for 
the fashion of this world passeth away. But 1 
would have you without carefulness." So also, 
(in 1 Peter, i. 17.) " Pass the time of your 
sojourning here in fear." " The end of all 
tilings is at hand : be ye therefore sober." 
(Do. iv. 7.) u Casting all your care upon him," 
(God,) " for he carcth for you. Be sober, be 
vigilant." (Do. v. 7, 8.) These precepts 
teach a sobriety of mind, which, though quite 
consistent with cheerfulness and guarded mirth, 

K 



98 LETTER III. 

is certainly inconsistent with the abandoning 
ourselves to mirth in an inconsiderate way, — ■ 
inconsistent with converting the shortness of 
life (and similar topics) into a confused kind of 
reason for passing that life in levity, or for 
admitting promiscuously every idea that offered 
itself for our seasons of recreation. 

Mrs. More, in the Vlth Part of the History of 
the Two Shoe-makers, which is a Dialogue On 
the Duty of carrying Religion into our Amuse- 
ments, and the greater part of which I have in- 
serted in the Introduction to my Collection of 
Songs, has considered some of the foregoing texts, 
in connection with some passages from songs, as 

*' Since life is no more than a passage at best, 
Let us strew the way over with flowers." 

See the Opera of Thomas and Sally, 



And 






" Bring the flask, the music bring, 

Joy shall quickly find us; 
Drink and dance, and laugh and sing, 

And cast dull Care behind us." 

See the Finale to Lionel and Clarissa, 

She shews how much the poet is at variance 
with the Christian precepts ; but I consider it 
sufficient in this place to state them together, 
and refer those, who wish to see more on the 
subject, to the Dialogue and to the Introduction, 
and, for some farther illustration of it, to the 



ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 99 

Preface to the third Volume of my Collection of 
Songs, p. vii. and I shall proceed to consider 
the Songs which you have given in-this class. 

The Song beginning " No glory I covet," 
(p. 37.) I have given in the second Volume of 
my Collection ; but the sentiment u The one 
thing I beg of kind Heaven to grant Is a mind 
independent and free", I altered to " One 
thing which I beg &c." as persons have many 
other things to beg of Heaven than a free and 
independent mind. Heaven appears to me to 
be introduced with propriety in this verse, as is 
Providence in the third : 

" The blessings, which Providence freely has lent, 
I'll justly and gratefully prize". 

The Moral Thought, by Hawkes worth, 
" Through groves sequester'd", (p. 38.) is in 
my Collection, and I have no observation to 
make upon it. 

" What man in his wits had not rather be 
poor", (p. 39.) by the Rev. Samuel Wesley, is 
also in my second volume ; but thinking the first 
of the two lines of the conclusion uncharitable, 

n Such a wretch let mine.enemy Jive, if he please, 
But not even mine enemy die." 

I altered them to 

•' Snch a wretch should mine enemy live, may it please 
Kind Heav'n he repent ere he die." 

L.ofC 



100 LETTER III, 

" Oh ! what is the gain of restless care", 
• (p. 40.) by Mr.- Smyth, is certainly a very 
pleasing poem ; but the expression in the fourth 
line from the end, " there alone can the heart 
be gay," I do not think just, as the heart can 
be gay in many other situations. 

In " Come, dear Amanda !" (p. 41.) line 
three from the end, 

" And wisely crop the blooming day ;" 

the invitation to " secure the short delight" 
seems sufficiently guarded by putting the word 
wisely. 

That I may not appear too severe, I will not 
object to the Song beginning u Waft me, some 
soft and cooling breeze," (p. 41.) farther than 
to the last line of the fourth verse " The Gods 
of health and pleasure dwell," which I should 
alter to u The Sons of health and pleasure dwell." 

In the beautiful Song u Dear is 'my little 
native vale," (p. 43.) I could have wished that 
the Hours had had some other epithet than 
jfa/r^-footed. 

" Not on beds of fading flowers" (p. 44.) 
is in my Collection ; but I altered the last line 
but one from "So from the first did Jove or- 
dain", to " For thus does Providence ordain". 

Juno's Song in the Judgment of Paris, 
(p. 45.) 



ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 101 

Let ambition fire thy mind, 

Thou wert born o'er men to reign ; 
Not to follow flocks design'd ; 

Scorn thy crook, and leave the plain. 

Crowns I'll throw beneath thy feet ; 

Thou on necks of kings shall tread ; 
Joys in circles jovs shall meet 

Which way e'er thy fancy's led. &c. &c. 

Firing the mind with, ambition, and treading 
on the necks of kings, appears to me to go far, 
very far beyond a " calm and reasonable philo- 
sophy", and " justly to excite the censure of 
the moralist". (See before p. 94.) 

" The wretch condemn'd with life to part" 
(p. 46.) is in my collection. 

" O Memory ! thou fond deceiver", (p. 46.) 
appears to me to be much too unqualified . Me- 
mory has its Pleasures as well as its pains, 
and " he who wants each other blessing", by 
which I suppose we are to understand the 
blessings of this life, must not by any means 
necessarily " find a foe" in Memory. If he has 
treasured up in it the records of a good con- 
science, together with the promises of that reward 
to which a good conscience is permitted to look 
forward, it will afford him consolation amid his 
" woe" in this life, and afford him the hope of 
unfading happiness in that which is to come. 

After the high commendation which you have 



102 LETTER III. 

given in a note upon Goldsmith's Song, begin- 
ning " When lovely woman stoops to folly", 
(p. 47.) and also in your Letters on Poetry, 
(L. xix. p. 271.) I feel much reluctance in 
objecting to it. Goldsmith is a favourite author 
with me, and his Vicar of Wakefield, in which 
this song is introduced, is a work to which I am 
very partial. I should have been glad to have 
inserted this Song in my Collection, but on 
mature consideration, I could not do so. The 
pointy which you so much admire, — to die, 
appears to me in its seeming sentiment and 
beauty to have misled him ; for, surely, it can- 
not with propriety be said, that it is the part of 
a woman under such circumstances — to die : 
that is, either to bring on her death directly, or 
indirectly, or even to wish it ; but to wait God's 
good time, and by penitence, and trust in the 
merits of a Redeemer, hope that her sin may 
be forgiven. 

u Lucy, I think not of thy beauty ;" (p. 47.) 
by Matilda Betham, is a very sweet poem, as is 
The Rose, (p. 49.) " A Rjse had been wash'd, 
just wash'd in a shower," by Cowper. It is in 
my 'Collection, and is one of the most delightful 
poems I know. It shews the very happy art 
which he had of eliciting a moral from the 
most common incidents of life : I am only sur- 



ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 103 

prised that you have not selected more from his 
stores. His Winter Nosegay is nearly equal 
to it. 

The Mansion of Rest, " I talk'd to my 
fluttering heart," (p. 50.) appears to me to be 
objectionable in several respects. Friendship is 
called a " witch", and it is said that she 
" could stab while she smiPd." This was not 
Friendship, then, but some one under her name. 
So again Love and his " sorcery" is mentioned, 
and that the soul would never with him find a 
Mansion of rest. Here, again, either it was not 
true love, or the rest sought was not such as 
there was any reason to expect to find. In the 
last verse Joy is called a Phantom, Reason is 
represented as stern, and the grave is considered 
as the Mansion of Rest. I would rather have 
pointed to a brighter Mansion, Heaven. The 
strain of this Song appears to me to be of the 
same kind, but going farther than Solomon in- 
tended, when he pronounced his maxim, that 
u All is Vanity" ; and which, even in his ac- 
ceptation, you do not think it " practically 
useful to inculcate.". (Letters on Poetry. 
L. iv. p. 36.) 

The Banks of Ayr, " The gloomy night 
is gathering fast," (p. 52.) by Burns, is, as you 




104 LETTER III. 

term it, a pathetic piece. Its moral is neither 
good nor bad. 

" To Fair Indole's grassy tomb" (p. 53.) 
by Collins, has a very pleasing versification, 
together with great pathos and poetic beauty ; 
but I find in it " wailing ghost," " withered 
witch", u goblins" and " female fays."* 



* I hope I shall stand excused, if I take this opportunity of 
noticing a passage in the Preface to a Volume of " Poetry 
for Children : consisting of Short Pieces to be committed 
to memory. Selected by Lucy Aikin". The Preface opens' 
with this sentence, " Since dragons and fairies, giants and 
Tvitches, have vanished from our nurseries before the wand of 
reason, it has been a prevailing maxim, that the young mind 
should be fed on mere prose and simple matter of fact." &e. &c. 
I did not expect, after this, to have found, page 112, The 
Fairy's Song. 

This Book was put into my hands by a gentleman, to look 
it over, to see whether I considered it a proper book to give 
away as one of the rewards to the Children of the School here ; 
when I made the following observations upon it: Page 27, 
(Fifth Edition) is a poem on Insects, which begins 

Observe the insect race, ordain'd to keep 
The lazy sabbath of a half-year's sleep. 

The epithet lazy seems to be improperly applied to the sabbath, 
as it is not a day of sloth but of necessary, or at least salutary, 
rest. P. 35. Fortune is made the disposer of men's affairs: 

I care not, Fortune ! what you me deny : 
You cannot rob me of free nature's grace. 

P. 47. Is The Midsummer Wish, consisting; of the tive first 



ON MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 105 

Morning and Evening, u Say, sweet 
carol ! who are they" has nothing very objec- 
tionable in it, nor the Song addressed To May, 
" Born in yon blaze of orient sky" except that 
she is made a Goddess. 

The Soldier, which begins, 

What dreaming drone was ever blest 
By thinking of the morrow ? 

verses of " Waft me, some soft and cooling breeze". On which 
see before, p. 100- In Vocal Poetry it is attributed to Lansdowne, 
in Poetry for Children to Croxall. P. 77. The Huntsman 
encourages the cruel amusement of Hunting, and Exercise, p. 96. 
encourages that and other cruel sports, which are said to pro- 
duce pleasure. P. 111. Hunting the llareis called glorious tri- 
umphs; and the following lines appear to me to contain ideas not 
proper to be put into the minds of school Doys on such an occasion: 

afflictive birch 
No more the school-boy dreads : his prison broke, 
Scamp'ring he flies, nor heeds bis master's call; &c. 

wild crowds 
Spread o'er the plain, by the sweet phrensy seized. 
P. 122. Is an extract from Addison's Letter from Italy, where 
" the golden groves," which he sees around him, when trans- 
planted to " the coast of Britain's stormy isle" are made to 
curse'* the cold clime". Afterwards we have " Bear me some 
god", as if there really were many Gods. Again " kind heav'n" 
is represented as having u adorn'd the happy land, 

And scatter'd blessings with a wasteful hand !" 

The word wasteful seems to imply censure on the bounties of 
Heaven. P. 125. Liberty is represented as a " goddess, 
heav'nly bright," and " smiling plenty" is said to lead her 
" wanton train." Of course wanton must be considered as 
meaning only sportive, or else it is objectionable. 



106 LETTER III. 

To day be mine — I leave (lie rest 

To all the fools of sorrow : 
Give me the mind that mocks at care, &c. 

is, I think, much too Anacreontic and militates 
against the principles laid down in page 95, &c. 

The War Song, " I mark'd his madly- 
rolling eye", has nothing in it particularly to 
censure. 

u Ye mariners of England," deserves the 
commendation, which you, Sir, have bestowed 
upon it in the note, with respect to its poetical 
merit ; but 1 had rather not have met with such 
expressions as, 

The spirits of your fathers 
Shall start from ev'ry wave. 

Britannia — — — 
With thunders from her native oak 
She quells the floods below.* 

This being the last of your Class of Moral and 
Miscellaneous Songs, I shall now add my own 
Selection of Songs of a similar description, 

and am, Sir, 

with great respect, 
your &c. 



* A friend informs me he has been told " that the firing of 
guns does actually calm the sea: and if we allow this fact, the 
poetical colouring is not mwc/i." 



107 
MORAL 

AND 

MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 



I. 
VIRTUE. 

BY J. OAKMAN. 



1 

Ye virgins and youths of the plain, 

So innocent, happy and gay, 
I mean not your sports to restrain, 

Yet listen awhile to my lay ; 
'Tis Virtue that lifts up the song, 

'Tis she ev'ry joy can improve, 
To her all the graces belong, 

And all the fond raptures of love. 
2 
The streamlet, the mead and the bow'r, 
, With all the kind blessings of spring, 
More charming are made by her power, 

For sweetness still drops from her wing. 
'Tis Virtue that banishes care, 

From her you must happiness claim, 
She your worth to the world will declare, 

And crown you with honour and fame. 



108 MORAL A>'D .MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

IT. 
JUSTICE. 

BY THOMAS SCOTT. 



1 

Forbid it, Heav'n, that e'er I eat 
The bread of craftiness and wrong, 

A curse would poison all my meat, 
As fatal as the viper's tongue. 

2 

I ne'er will raise a poor man's sigh, 
His hire shall never swell my store ; 

I dread the poor man's plaintive cry, 
I fear the Father of the Poor. 



If I in darkness (base misdeed !) 
Assassinate my neighbour's fame ; 

By me if innocency bleed, 

Cancel from earth my hated name. 

4 

Ah ! no ; let me with strong delight 
To all the tax of duty pay ; 

Tender of ev'ry social right, 

Revering thy all-righteous sway. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 109 

Such virtue thou wilt ne'er forget, 
In worlds where ev'ry virtue shares 

High recompence ; tho' not of debt, 

But which thy bounteous grace prepares. 



III. 
ADVERSITY. 

BY THOMAS SCOTT. 



How high our sanguine hopes we raise ! 

How hotly our desires pursue 
What fancy's magic glass displays 

Enlarg'd and tempting to the view ! 

These mortal objects of our love 
Too closely twine about our heart, 

Seduce our souls from things above. 
And hardly leave to God a part. 

2 

O bitter change ! when HeavVs kind hand 

Snatches the fatal joy away, 
Our feeble reason scarce can. stand 

Firm in affliction's stormy day. 



110 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

We weep, we laugh, in mad extreme ; 

Here, all delight ; all sadness there : 
Now on the mount of bliss we seem. 

Now in the quagmire of despair. 

3 

Stoics, who on your strength presume, 
Could all your toiling wisdom find 

A light to cheer affliction's gloom, 
A balsam for the wounded mind ? 

In vain you hail him good and great, 
Whose stedfast soul no ills can move ; 

Boast him impregnable to fate, 
And equal to your mighty Jove. 



Vain world, whose scenes of bliss and woe 
Are shifting every fleeting hour ; 

No longer shall our spirits owe 

Their peace, or trouble, to thy pow'r. 

Teach us, thou Comforter divine, 

Contentment ; should our all be gone : 

Teach us submission meek as thine, 
" Father, thy will, not mine be done." 



310RAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. Ill 
IV. 

DISAPPOINTMENT. 

BY HENRY KIRKE WHITE. 



1 " 

Come, Disappointment, come \ 

Not in thy terrors clad ; 
Come in thy meekest, saddest guise ; 
Thy chastening rod but terrifies 
The restless and the bad. 
But I recline 
Beneath thy shrine, 
And round my brow resign'd, thy peaceful 
cypress twine. 



Tho' Fancy flies away 

Before thy hollow tread, 
Yet Meditation in her cell, 
Hears, with faint eye, the ling'ring knell, 
That tells her hopes are dead ; 
And tho* the tear 
By chance appear, 
Yet who can smile and say, my all was not 
laid here. 



112 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGSv 
3 

Come, Disappointment, come ! 

Tho' from hope's summit hurl'd, 
Still, rigid Nurse, thou art forgiven, 
For thou severe wert sent from heav'n, 
To wean me from the world ; 
To turn my eye 
x From vanity, 

And point to scenes of bliss that never, never 
die. 



What is tins passing scene ? 

A peevish April day ! 
A little sun — a little rain, 
And then night sweeps along the plain, 
And all things fade away. 
Man (soon discuss'd) 
Yields up his trust, 
And all his hopes and fears lie with him in 
the dust. 

5 

Oh ! what is Beauty's power ? 

It flourishes and dies ; 
Will the cold earth its silence break, 
i To tell how soft, how smooth a cheek, 
Beneath its surface lies ? 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 113 

Mute, mute is all 
O'er beauty's fall, 
Her praise resounds no more when mantled in 
her pall. 

6 
The most belov'd on earth, 
Not long survives to-day ; 
So music past is obsolete, 
And yet 'twas sweet, 'twas passing sweet, 
But now 'tis gone away. 
Thus does the shade 
In memory fade, 
When in forsaken tomb the form belov'd is laid. 



Then since this world is vain, 

And volatile and fleet, 
Why should I lay up earthly joj^s, 
Wliere rust corrupts and moth destroys, 
And cares and sorrows eat ! 
Why fly from ill, 
With anxious skill, 
When soon this hand will freeze, this throbbing 
heart be still. 

8 

Come, Disappointment, come! 
Thou art not stern to me ; 
l2 



114 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

Sad Monitress ! I own thy sway, 
A votary sad in early day, 
I pay my court to thee. 
From sun to sun 
My race will run, 
I only bow and say, My God, thy will be done ! 



y. 

TO-MORROW. 



How sweet to the heart is the thought of To- 
morrow, 
When Hope's pleasing pictures bright co- 
le - lours display ! 

How sweet, when we can from futurity borrow 
A balm for the griefs that afflict us to-day ! 

2 
When wearisome sickness has taught me to 
languish 
For health, and the comforts it bears on its 
whig, 
Let me hope (oh ! how soon it would lessen my 
anguish) 
That To-morrow will ease and serenity bring. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 115 
3 

When travelling alone, quite forlorn, unbe- 
friended, 
Sweet the hope that To-morrow ray wan- 
d'rings will cease ; 
That at home, then, with care sympathetic 
attended, 
I shall rest unmolested and slumber in peace. 

4 
Or when from the friends of my heart long di- 
vided, 
The fond expectation with joy how replete ! 
That from far distant regions, by Providence 
guided, 
To-morrow will see us most happily meet. 

5 
When six days of labour each other suc- 
ceeding, 
With hurry and toil have my spirits op- 
press'd, 
What pleasure to think, as the last is receding, 
To-morrow will be a sweet Sabbath of rest. 

6 
And when the vain shadows of time are retiring, 
When life is fast-fleeting, and death is in 
sight, 
The Christian believing, exulting, aspiring, 
Beholds a To-morrow of endless delight : 



116 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS 

7 

But the Infidel then ! — he sees no To-morrow 
Yet he knows that his moments are hastening 
away : 
Poor wretch ! can he feel without heart-rending 
sorrow, 
That his joys and his life will expire with 
to-day ! 



VI. 

THE DAYS THAT ARE GONE, 



The sun was departed, the mild zephyr blow- 
ing 
Bore over the plain the perfume of the 
flowers ; 
In soft undulations the streamlet was flowing, 

And calm meditation led forward the hours : 
I struck the full chord, and the ready tear 

started, 
I sung of an exile, forlorn, broken hearted, 
Like him, from my bosom all joy is departed, 
And sorrow has stol'n from the lyre all its 
pow'rs. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 117 
2 

I paus'd on the strain, when fond mem'ry, 
tenacious, 
Presented the form I must ever esteem : 
Retrac'd scenes of pleasure, alas, how fallacious ! 
Evanescent all, all, as the shades of a dream. 
Yet still, as they rush'd thro' oppress'd recol- 
lection, 
The silent tear fell, and the pensive reflection 
Immers'd my sad bosom in deeper dejection, 
On which cheering Hope scarcely glances 
a beam. 

3 
In vain into beauty all Nature is springing, 
In vain smiling Spring does the blossoms 
unfold ; 
In vain round my cot the wing'd choristers 
singing, 
When each soft affection is dormant and cold. 
E'en sad as the merchant, bereav'd of his 

treasure, 
So slow beats my heart, and so languid its 

measure, 
So dreary, so lonely, a stranger to pleasure, 
Around it Affliction her mantle hath roll'd. 
4 
But meek Resignation supporting the spirit, 
Unveils a bright scene to the uplifted eye ; 



118 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

A scene, which the patient and pure shall in- 
herit, 
Where hearts bleed no more, and the tear 
shall be dry. 

There souls, which on earth in each other 
delighted, 

By friendship, by honour, by virtue united, 

Shall meet, and their pleasures no more shall 
be blighted, 
But perfect and pure as their love be their joy, 



VII. 
THE WINTER FRIEND. 

1 

When the vocal cuckoo wings 

To southern climes his way ; 
When the swifts in giddy rings 

Their vent'rous flight essay ; 
When the linnet droops forlorn 

Upon the naked spray ; 
Mute the blackbird on the thorn, 

And lark that hails the day ; 
Still the robin whistles clear, 
And braves the fading year. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 119 
2 

Other flatt'rers come and go, 

The frolic train of spring ; 
Fearful from the drifting snow 

They urge their rapid wing. 
Other warblers cease their strain 

When storms forbid to roam, 
But Robin then forsakes the plain, 

And gives us songs at home : 
Let the fickle sporters flee, — 
The Winter Friend for me. 



VIII. 
GRATITUDE. 

From the Opera of The Royal Merchant* 
BY THOMAS HULL. 

1 

Go traverse the field and the grove, 
Examine the grain and the flower, 

How nourish'd and cheer 'd by the dew ! 
How beautiful after a shower ! 

To the Power who gave them to shine, 
Ah ! tell me what seem they to say ? 

" We flourish in duty to you, 
That you may approve us are gay." 



120 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
2 

" We teem with increase and delight, 
To honour the source of our birth ; 

For this are we rich in the gale, 
For this we are gay on the earth." 

Of their treasure, so free, so diffuse, 
Sweet emblems ! how well they impart 

The fulness of pleasure and pride, 
When gratitude springs in the heart. 



IX. 

THE PATRON. 

If e'er a Patron I shall find, 

Who may to serve me prove inclin'd 

Be it my lot propitious 
To find a mnn of generous soul, 
Who scorns his Client to controul, 

Whom none can say is vicious : 

2 
Who gives his favours from a sense 
That he has duties to dispense, 

And steward is of Heav'n ; 
Who, guided b\ no sordid views, 
His sacred trust will ne'er abuse, 

Remembering why 'tis giv'n : 




MISCELLANEOUS AND MORAL SONGS. 121 
3 

Who, in his mode of giving, adds 
A grace to bounty, and who glads 

The very heart he favours ; 
No burden then his love I'll find, 
But be to gratitude inclin'd, 

While all of good-will savours : 
4 
Who will not in return demand 
A mean compliance at my hand, 

Or mark extreme each error ; 
But, rather, who the friend shall prove, 
To bind my heart by cords of love, 

And not by abject terror.* 
5 
Sure pain would on the thought attend, 
To differ from a generous friend : 

'Twould give me grief unfeigned 
To think my Patron against me 
Had e'en the semblance of a plea, 

Or justly he complained. 

* There is a sentiment, in the Opera of The Accom- 
plished Maid, which has always struck me as being ex- 
tremely beautiful, and shewing an admirable heart in the 
Speaker: Fanny says, ** How bountiful has Providence been 
in allotting me such humane Benefactors, who, by kindness, 
convert misfortune into a blessing". She does not repine at her 
dependent state, but feels grateful for, and rejoices in, the bene- 
volence of her Patrons. 

M 




122 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
6 

But, if it chanc'd — as chance it might,— 
The best man is not always right — 

That he and I agree not ; 
To me let him that credit give, 
Which he from others would receive, 

My failings spare, or see not. 

7 
But if, unknowing, I offend, 
Still may I find he is my Friend, 

And friendly may he smite me ;* 
Admonish'd then, my fault I'll mourn, 
And to his love a quick return 

May firmly re-unite me. 

8 
Ne'er may he harbour in his breast 
Conceal'd dislike, which, unconfest, 

Misleads me by forbearance ; 
And in the end I have to find, 
With keenest anguish of the mind, 

His love was but appearance. 

9 
Oh ! never may I pine unheard, 
Heart-sick at last from hope deferr'd,t 
And fruitless expectation : 

* Psalm cxli. 5. f Prov. xiii. 12. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 123 

Heart-whole, I'd smile at grief and pain, 
Content with godliness is gain,* 
Unanswer'd hope's vexation. 

10 
Oh I then, unless thus good and kind 
A Patron I may haply find, 

May Heav'n bestow Contentment : 
That as thro' Life's low vale I steal, 
I be not tempted to reveal 

Sad symptoms of resentment. 

11 
Be ev'ry station where I'm plac'd, 
With humble resignation grac'd, 

How low or high soever : 
In poverty, that I repin'd, 
Or high, to arrogance inclin'd, 

Be it never said, — O, never. 

12 

If Patron e'er become myself, — 
And who so low, but sometimes, pelf 

Is his to give another ? — 
Oh ! then, I pray sincere, that I 
May act as I would be done by, 

And hold that man my Brother. 



* 1 Tim. vi. 6. 



J24 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
13 

And, as the man's more blest who gives,* 
Than he who bounty but receives,— 

This truth consider duly ! — 
So let me ever think, that he, 
Who gratefully accepts from me, 

Becomes my Friend most truly. 



X. 

HEALTH. 

BY DR. COTTON. 



1 

Attend my precepts, thoughtless youths. 
Ere long you'll think them weighty truths ; 
Prudent it were to think so now. 
Ere age has silver'd o'er your brow : 
For he, who at his early years 
Has sown in vice, shall reap in tears. 
If Folly has possess'd his prime, 
Disease shall gather strength in time. 

2 
The subject of my song is Health, 
A gobd superior far to wealth. 

* Acts xx. 35. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 125 

Can the young mind distrust its worth ? 
Consult the monarch s of the earth : 
Imperial Czars, and Sultans own 
No gem so bright that decks their throne ; 
Each for this pearl his crown would quit, 
And turn a rustic, or a cit. 

3 
Mark, tho' the blessing's lost with ease, 
'Tis not recover'd when you please. 
How fruitless the physician's skill, 
How vain the penitential pill, 
The marble monuments proclaim, 
The humbler turf confirms the same. 
Prevention is the better cure ; 
So says the proverb, and 'tis sure. 

4 
Let temp'rance constantly preside, 
Our best physician, friend and guide ! 
Would you to wisdom make pretence, 
Proud to be thought a man of sense ? — 
Let temp'rance (always friend to fame) 
With steady hand direct your aim ; 
For they who slight her golden rules, 
In Wisdom's volume stand for fools. 



M 2 



126 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

XL 
THE PROVERBS OF THREESCORE : 

Affectionately addressed to Eighteen. 

BY NATHANIEL BLOOMFIELD. 



1 

Have you seen the delightless abode, 

Where Penury nurses Despair ; 
Where comfortless Life is a load 

Age Avishes no longer to bear. 
All ! who, in this lazerhouse pent, 

His lone wailings sends up to the skies ? 
'Tis the man whose young prime was mispent 

'Tis he who so bitterly sighs. 



His youth, sunk in profligate waste, 

Left no comforts life's evening to cheer ; 
He must only its bitterness taste, 

No friend, no kind relative near. 
His children by want forc'd to roam. 

Are aliens wherever they are ; 
They have long left his desolate home 

Have left him alone to despair. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 127 
3 

Have you seen the delectable place, 

AVhere honor'd age loves to abide ; 
Where Plenty, and Pleasure, and Peace, 

With Virtue and Wisdom reside ? 
Autumn's fruits he has carefully stor'd ; 

His herds willing tributes abound : 
And the smiles of his plenteous board, 

By his children's children are crown'd. 

4 
And his is the godlike delight, 

The power to relieve the distress'd ! 
Who can contemplate blessings so bright, 

And not wish to be equally bless'd. 
Then let not the means be forgot : 

Remember, and mark this great truth ; 
'Twas not chance fix'd his prosperous lot, 

'Twas the virtues of provident Youth. 

5 
If such a bright prospect can charm, 

If you feel emulation arise, 
If your juvenile bosom is warm 

With the hope to be wealthy and wise ; 
O cherish the noble design, 

The maxims of Prudence pursue, 
Application and Industry join, 

Thus Plenty and Peace will you wop. 



128 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

. • . 6 . 

Early cultivate Virtue's rich seeds ; 

These will fruits in life's winter display : 
Ne'er defer till to-morrow good deeds, 

That as well might be finish'd to-day. 
For Age and Experience can tell, 

And you'll find, when you grow an old man, 
Tho' its never too late to do well, 

You will wish you had sooner began. 



XII. 
THE OLD MAN'S WISH. 

ALTERED FROM DR. WALTER POPE. 



If I live to grow old, for I find I go down, 
May I live in some village or small country town, 
May I have a warm house, and may ever my 

door 
Be open alike to the rich and the poor : 

May I govern my passions with absolute 

sway, 
Grow wiser and better as strength wears 

away, 
And die, if 't please Heav'n, by a gentle 
decay. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 129 
2 

Near a thick shady grove, and a murmuring 

brook, 
With the ocean at distance whereon I may look ; 
With a spacious green plain, without hedge, 

ditch, or stile, 
And an easy pad-nag to ride out for awhile. 
May I govern, &c. 
3 
With my Bible, in which may I ev'ry day read, 
Some author who's sound in his practice and 

creed, 
With Cowper, Young, Milton, and two or 

three more 
Of the best wits who liv'd in the ages before 5 
May I govern, &c. 
4 
With mutton prefer'd. e'en to ven'son or teal, 
And clean tho' coarse linen at every meal, 
With a glass, if my health shall require it, of 

wine, 
To drink Church and King whensoever I dine : 
May I govern, &c. 
5 
With courage, tho' humble, to meet my last 

day,— 
And when in the grave may the rich and poor 
say, 



ISO MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

" In the morn of his life to his evening's last 

close 
His God he still fear'd, and, we trust, meets 
repose : 
For he govern'd his passions with absolute 

sway, 
Grew wiser and better as strength wore away. 
And died trusting to live in a yet brighter day". 

J. P. 



XIII. 
THE OLD MAN'S COMFORTS, 

JND HOW HE GAINED THEM. 
BY ROBERT SOUTHEY. 

1 

" You are old father William," the young 
man cried, 

" The few locks that are left you are gray : 
You are hale, father William, a hearty old man : 

Now tell me the reason, I pray." 

" In the days of. my youth," father William 
replied, 

u I remember'd that youth would fly fast, 
And abus'd not my health and my vigour at first, 

That I never might need them at last." 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 131 
3 

u You are old, father William/* tlie young 
man cried, 

u And pleasures with youth pass away, 
And yet you lament not the days that are gone : 

Now tell me the reason, I pray." 

4 
" In the days of my youth," father William 
replied, 
" I remember'd that youth could not last ; 
I thought of the future whatever I did, 
That I never might grieve for the past." 

5 

" You are old ? father William," the young 
man cried, 
" And life must be hast'ning away ; 
You are cheerful, and love to converse upon 
death : 
Now tell me the reason, I pray." 

: 6 

" I am cheerful, young man," father William 

replied, 
1 " Let the cause thy attention engage : 
In the days of my youth I remember'd my 
God, 
And he hath not forgotten my age". 



132 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

XIV. 
THE AFFECTIONATE HEART. 

BY JOSEPH COTTLE. 



1 

Tho' the great man, his treasures possessing, 
Pomp and splendour for ever attend, 

I prize not the shadowy blessing, 
I ask — the affectionate friend. 

2 
Tho' foibles may sometimes o'ertake him, 

His footstep from wisdom depart ; 
Yet my spirit shall never forsake him, 

If lie own the affectionate heart. 

3 
Affection ! thou soother of care, 

Without thee, unfriended we rove ; 
Thou canst make e'en the desert look fair, 

And thy voice is the voice of the dove. 

4 
'Mid the anguish that preys on the breast, 

And the storms of mortality's state ; 
What shall lull the afflicted to rest, 

But the joys that on sympathy wait? 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 133 

5 

What is Fame, bidding Envy defiance ? 

The idol and bane of mankind ; 
What is Wit, what is Learning, or Science, 

To the heart that is steadfast and kind ? 

6 
E'en Genius may weary the sight 

By too fierce and too constant a blaze ; 
But affection, mild planet of night ! 

Grows lovelier the longer ,we gaze. 

7 
It shall thrive when the flattering forms 

That encircle creation decay ; 
It shall live 'mid the wide-wasting storms 

That bear all undistinguish'd away. 

8 
When Time, at the end of his race, 

Shall expire with expiring mankind, 
It shall stand on its permanent base, 

It shall last till the wreck of the mind. 



134 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

XV. 
SMILES AND TEARS. 

BY MR. DIBD1N. 



1 

The weather, the land, and all those that dwel 
in it, 
Like our minds that are chequer'd by hopes 
and by fears, 
In rapid succession change every minute, 
A constant rotation of smiles and of tears. 

But the smiles and the tears the same motive 
revealing, 

Tho' opposite, similar passions excite, 
One the offspring of bounty, the other of feeling, 

Take different tacks to the road of delight. 



When pants the parch'd earth, as its wounds 
require healing, 
For the shower, to put forward fresh blossoms 
and leaves ; 
Nature, parent to all, with affectionate feeling, 
Benignly sheds tears as its wants she relieves. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 135 

And when kindly refreshed, as new beauties are 
springing, 
And the sun, in rich smiles, glads the gra- 
tified sight ; 
Thankful birds on the glistening verdure are 
singing, 
And the smiles and the tears expand equal 
delight. 

3 

And so, 'twixt friend and friend, when a heart- 
wounding sorrow 
Resolution o'ercomes, and sinks deep in the 
mind; 
From the tears of a friend flattering comfort we 
borrow, 
For the motive's sincere, and the action is 
kind : 

Nor when friendship's warm efforts o'ercome 
the vexation, 
Do our smiles, howe'er grateful, more plea- 
sure excite, 
For they both have their source in the same 
sweet sensation, 
And convey to the mind the same generous 
delight. 



136 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
XVI. 

THE SMILE OF BENEVOLENCE. 

BY MR. DIBDIN. 



1 

Inspir'd by so grateful a duty, 
In terms strongest art can devise. 

Bards have written those raptures on beauty. 
That Lovers have wafted on sighs : 

I, to fiil the sweet theme more completely, 
Sing the beauty of goodness the while, 

For every face is dress'd sweetly, 
Where beams a benevolent smile. 

2 
While the heart some beneficent action 

Contemplates, with joy the eyes speak, 
On the lip quivers mute satisfaction, 

And a glow of delight paints the cheek. 

Bliss pervades ev'ry feature completely, 
Adding beauty to beauty the while, 

And the loveliest face looks more sweetly > 
Where beams a benevolent smile. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 137 
XVII. 

THE SMILE AND THE TEAR, 

From the Opera of False Alarms, 
BY JAMES KENNEY. 



1 

Said a Smile to a Tear, 

On the cheek of my dear, 
Which beam'd like the sun in spring weather, 

" In truth, lovely Tear, 

" It strange doth appear, 
" That we should be both here together." 

" I came from the heart 

" A soft balm to impart, 
" To yonder sad daughter of Grief:" 

" And I," said the Smile, 

" That heart to beguile, 
" Since you gave the sad mourner relief." 
3 

« Oh then," said the Tear, 

" Sweet Smile, it is clear, 
" We're twins, and soft Pity our mother ; 

" And how lovely that face, 

" Which together we grace, 
" For the woe and the bliss of another." 
m 2 



138 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

XVIII. 
BEAUTY. 



The wind passeth over it, and it is gone. 



1 
I saw a dew drop, cold and clear, 

Dance on a myrtle spray ; 
Fair colours' deck'd the lucid tear, 
Like those which gleam and disappear 

When showers and sunbeams play. — 
Sol cast athwart a glance severe, 

And scorch'd the pearl away. 

2 
High on a slender polished stem, 

A fragrant lily grew : 
On the pure petals many a gem 
Glitter'd a native diadem 

Of healthy morning dew : 
A blast of lingering winter came, 

And snapp'd the stem in two. 

3 
Fairer than Morning's early tear, 

Or lily's snowy bloom, 
Shines Beauty in its vernal year : 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 139 

Bright, sparkling, fascinating, clear, 

Gay, thoughtless of its doom ! 
Death breathes a sudden poison near, 

And sweeps it to the tomb ! 



XIX. 

THE BRITISH VINE. 

BY WILLIAM HOLLOWAY. 



Sweet Vine ! whose curling tendrils cling 

My humble walls along, 
Accept the votive strain I bring — 

No Bacchanalian song. 



Though Nature never cherish'd thee 

On Arno's sunny side, 
Where, midst her rich redundancy, 

She sports in purple pride — 

3 

Though ne'er for me thy clusters shed 
Their floods of generous wine, 

To swell the midnight bowl, and bid 
Illusive visions shine — 



140 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
4 

Thy scallop'd foliage still for me 

Has solitary charms ; 
And guiltless ever shalt thou be 

Of riots and alarms. 

5 

Domestic Love beneath thy shade 

Shall rest her turtle-wing ; 
And Peace her soothing serenade, 

Uninterrupted, sing. 

6 
Then long, sweet Vine ! thy arms extend, 

To grace my homely bow'r ; 
And I will own thee as the friend 

Of life's most lovely hour. 



XX. 

MY ARBOUR. 



1 
The sweet-briar, the suckling, the jasmine 

and rose 
With their shade and their sweets my lov'd 

Arbour compose. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 141 

O there I retreat from the sun's scorching ray, 
Or taste the fresh breeze in the cool of the day ; 
There the black bird o'er head pours his sweet 

mellow song, 
The nightingale his varied notes will prolong ; 
At morning or noon, in the evening or night, 
My Arbour is still the lov'd scene of delight. 

With a book there I often my leisure employ. 
Or in friendship convivial an hour I enjoy ; 
There tea its society sweet will afford, 
Or supper present its plain plentiful board. 
We behold in her glory the bright silver moon, 
As majestic she rides in her journey's high 

noon ;* 
In the morning, &c. 

3 

The cares of the world never trouble my mind, 
All is calm and serene — to my lot I'm resign'd ; 
War's murmurs are hush'd ere my Arbour they 

reach, 
Or are heard but the lesson of pity to teach. t 



* To behold the wand'ring moon, 

Riding near her highest noon. 

Il Penseroso. 
+ Thus sitting, and surveying thus at ease 

The globe and its concerns, I seem adfanc'd 



142 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS* 

Oil ! would that the world could but feel the 

repose, 
Which the mind thus retiring unceasingly | 

knows : 
For at morning or noon, in the evening or nighty 
My Arbour is still the lov'd scene of delight. 

J. P. 



To some secure and more than mortal height, 
That lib'rates and exempts me from them all. 
It turns submitted to my view, turns round 
With all its generations ; I behold 
The tumult, and am still. The sound of war 
Has lost his terrors ere it reaches me ; 
Grieves, but alarms me not. 

Cowper's Task. B. IV. L. 93. 






While He, from all the stormy passions free 
That restless meu involve, hears, and but hears, 
At distancesafe, the human Tempest roar, 
Wrapt close in conscious Peace. The Fall of Kings, 
The rage of Nations, and the Crush of States, 
Move not the Man, who, from the World escap'd, 
Instill Retreats, and flowery Solitudes, 
To Nature's Voice attends, from Month to Month, 
And Day to Day, thro' the revolving Year; 
Admiring, sees Her in her every Shape; 
Feels all her sweet Emotions at his Heart;] 
Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more. 
Thomson's Autumn. L. 1308. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 143 

XXI. 

A FRIEND: 

OR, 

MY BOOK. 



1 

A companion I have, nay I'll call him a 
Friend, 
With whom I pass many and many an hour ; 
If serious my mood, or inclin'd to unbend, 
To soothe, or delight me, possessing the pow'r. 

He sometimes partakes of my cheerful fire side, 
At others the partner becomes of my walk, 

Hand in hand as we travel, the days quickly glide, 
Each moment brings profit with him whilst I 
talk. 



2 
He's pious, he's learned, he's grave, or he's gay, 
As chance may fall out, or occasion require, 
Be the subject what will, he has something to say, 
And other adviser I seldom require. 

Without pride or anger he shews me my faults, 
He reproves to my face, is no back-biting foe, 

And the fame of a friend, Oh ! he never assaults. 
And, sooner than wound, would all converse 
forego. 



144 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

3 

Caprice and ill-humour ne'er enter his mind, 
Of forms independent, he still is the same, 

For Noble or Learn'd I was never declin'd, 
Nor denied e'er to others who mention'd my 
name. 

Tho' high his extraction, and nurtur'd with care, 
No grand entertainments he ever requir'd, 

Full oft of my crust will he cheerfully share, 
And hath long held his talk as my embers 
expir'd. 

4 
To him it ne'er matters if ill or well drest, 
He turns not away, tho' by fashion I'm 
scorn'd ; 
E'en my days the most lowly have suited him 
best, 
And my path of contempt hath he gladly 
adorn'd. 

This friend hath a heart that is open to all, 
At least unto all who will up to him look, 

He makes no distinctions of great or of small, 
For all, if they please, find this Friend in. 
A BOOK. 

J. P. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 145 

XXII. 
THE SUMMER EVENING. 

BY THE REV. T. B. GREAVES. 
1 

Tho' hot was the Sun in the morn when he rose, 
And scorching his heat thro' the toil of the day, 

Yet cool and serene of his course is the close, 
And Labour reposes, and Care is away. 

Thus oft from the mom, thro' the noon of Ms life, 
Toils man, led by turbulent ardour to grieve ; 

But, cooling at length, he relinquishes strife, 
With wisdom serenely enjoying his eve. 



XXIII. 
NED BRACE. 

BY DR. HALLOBAN. 



1 

In many a storm and many a fight 
Ned Brace had borne an active part, 

Yet still his conscious mind was light, 
For Truth and Honour buoy'd his heart ; 

And 'midst the storm or battle's din, 

He felt a peaceful calm within. 



146 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

'Gainst Frenchmen, and Mynheers, and Dons, 
With brave St. Vincent, Howe, and Duncan, 

Ned with his shipmates plied the guns, 
Till all were taken, fled or sunken ; 

And still, 'mid storms, or battles' din, 

He felt a peaceful calm within. 

3 
Last with brave Nelson of the Nile, 

His starboard leg was shot away ; 
Food for some hungry crocodile. 

What then ? his comrades won the day : 
And wounded 'midst the battle's din, 

He felt a peaceful calm within. 

4 
But now, reluctant, lash'd ashore, 

By orders that demand obedience, 
Ned ne'er must tempt the ocean more, 

Till launch'd by Death for unknown regions ; 
And may he, then, 'mid fate's dread din, 
Outride the storm witli peace within. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 147 

XXIV. 
A SAILOR'S PAY, 

From the Opera of A House to be Sold. 
BY JAMES COBB. 



My due a noble nation pays, 
(War's thunder now no more) 

Most do I prize my Country's praise, 
And least this shining store. 

But if a real joy I prove, 
In what rewards my pains ; 

It is a hope the friend I love • 

May share my dear-bought gains. 

Yet not alone that hope I prize, 

Love pictures to my heart 
The tears that flow'd from Mary's eyes, 

When fortune bade us part. 

Another joy my heart shall prove, 

In what rewards my pains ; 
It is the hope the girl I love 

May share my dear-bought gains. 



148 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS St); 

XXV. 

THE BEACON. 



The Scene was more beautiful far to ray eye 
Than if day in its pride had array 'd it ; 

The land-breeze blew mild, and the azure 
arch'd sky 
Look'd pure as the Spirit had made it : 

The murmur rose soft, as I silently gaz'd 
On the shadowy wave's playful motion, 
From the dim distant isle, when the Beacon fire 

blaz'd 
Like a star in the midst of the ocean. 

2 

No longer the joy of the sailor boy's breast 
Was heard in his wildly-breath'd numbers; 

The sea-bird had flown to her wave-girdled nest, 
The fisherman sunk to his slumbers. 

One moment I look'd from the hill's gentle slope 
(All hush'd was the billows' commotion) 

And thought that the Beacon look'd lovely as 
Hope, 
That star of life's tremulous ocean. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 149 
3 

The time is long past, and the scene is afar, 
Yet when my head rests on its pillow, 

Will memory sometimes rekindle the star 
That blaz'd on the breast of the billow. 

In life's closing hour, when the trembling soul 
flies, 

And death stills the heart's last emotion ; 
O then may the bright beams of mercy arise 

Like a star on eternity's ocean. 



XXVI. 
THE SENTINEL. 



By day, when the sun in his bright glory glows, 

The Sentinel, then, upon guard takes his stand, 
So gallant and trim in his best suit of cloaths, 

His bayonet iix'd and his firelock in hand ; 
Mid tents or on ramparts he marches his ground, 

Flags wave in the air, and the loud cannons roar, 
The trumpets and drums give their heart- 
cheering sound, 

And the SentineJ, then, feels the Soldier all o'er, 
o 2 



150 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 






2 

When the evening declines, and the moon climbs 
the sky, 
And myriads of stars shine resplendent above, 
When the breeze but at intervals heaves a faint 
sigh, 
And no footstep, but his, is permitted to 
move ;— 
The Sentinel, then, to reflection gives way, 
His thoughts soar to Him, who the moon and 
stars made, 
Oh ! can he refrain to his Maker to pray, 
Whose bounties, the sky, earth, and ocean 
pervade ? 

3 
But, if dark be the night, and the winds, with 
loud roar, 
Drive the labouring clouds thro' the heav'n's 
boundless way, 
If breakers are heard to lash frequent the shore, 
And rain pours in torrents to fight the strong 
spray,— 
From his box, then, the Sentinel looks out with 
fear, 
While winds, waves, and rains Nature's 
beauties deform, 
But, amid desolation, he knows Wisdom's near, 
Who rides in the whirlwind, and checks the 
rude storm.* 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 151 
4 

With fear and with hope, he preserves his heart 
right, 
And patiently waits for the bright cheering 
dawn, 
Desolation and horror endure for a night, 

But joy will succeed it, and come with the 
morn.t 
His moments of duty completed, he knows, 
That another succeeds to take charge of his 
post, 
Arid he, without care, may then seek his repose, 
And his joys be endear'd by what trouble had 
crost. 

5 
He sees in his lot but a picture of man, 

Sent here upon duty, a Soldier on guard, 
And sunshine, or storm, he must meet as he can, 
Must expect a surprise, and be true to his 
ward. y 
But the season of trial will soon have an end, 
The moment will come when he meets his 
relief, 
If true to his post, then his Captain's his friend, 
And joy shall efface all remembrance of grief. 



* Rides in the whirl-wind, and directs the storm. 

The Campaign. By Addison. 
i Psalm xxx. v. 5. 



152 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

XXVII. 
THE BUGLE HORN. 



In the town, or in barracks, in camp, or the field, 
How cheering the notes which the bugle-horns 

yield ; 
Our slumbers forsake us at first beaui of dawn, 
Awak'd by the sound of the loud bugle horn. 



At parade, when our troops are in gallant array, 

And our musquets and swords martial splendour 
display, 

While discipline reigns thro' each well-mus- 
ter'd band, 

The bugle-horn sounds forth the word of com- 
mand. » 



And when busy day draws apace to its close, 
And man and beast wearied demand their repose. 
The horn, which at morn breaks the slumbers 

of peace, 
At eve sounds from duty a welcome release. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 153 

4 
If the dread day of battle at length should e'ev 

come, 
And we hear from afar the bold enemy's drum, 
Then trusting in Him who will favour the right, 
The horn shall both summon and cheer for the 

fight. 

5 

Then let courage prevail, but let mercy still 

reign, 
The living to spare and to honour the slain, 
If the standard of Britain's in victory borne, 
Be conquest proclaim'd by the trumpet and horn. 

6 

And knowing that one only scatters our foes, 
And from that source alone ev'ry victory flows, 
With one heart and voice, our thanksgivings 

we'll raise, 
And unite with the horn in high accents of praise. 



154 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS, 

XXVIII. 
SCOTIA'S GLENS. 

Tcne : Lord Ballandine''s Delight. 
BY JAMES HOGG. 



1 

'Mong Scotia's glens and mountains blue, 
Where Gallia's lilies never grew, 
Where Roman eagles never flew. 

Nor Danish lions rallied : 
Where skulks the roe in anxious fear> 
Where roves the stately nimble deer, 
There live the lads to freedom dear. 

By foreign yoke ne'er galled. 

2 

There woods grow wild on every hill ; 
There freemen wander at their will ; 
Sure Scotland will be Scotland still 

While hearts so brave defend her. 
" Fear not, Our Sovereign liege," they cry, 
" We've flourish'd fair beneath thine eye ; 
For thee we'll tight, for thee we'll die, 

Nor ought but life surrender." 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 155 

o 
O 

a Since thou hast watch'd our every need, 
And taught our navies wide to spread. 
The smallest hair from thy grey head 

No foreign foe shall sever. 
Thy honoured age in peace to save 
The sternest host we'll dauntless brave, 
Or stem the fiercest Indian wave, 

Nor heart nor hand shall waver." 

4 
u Tho' nations join yon tyrant's arm, 
While Scotia's noble blood runs warm, 
Our good old man we'll guard from harm, 

Or fall in heaps around him. 
Altho' the Irish harp were won, 
And England's roses all o'errun ; 
'Mong Scotia's glens, with sword and gun, 

We'll form a bulwark round him." 



XXIX. 

MY DEAR NATIVE ISLE. 



1 

O Britain ! my Country ! thou Queen of the Isles, 
Where Freedom and Plenty wear permanent 
smiles, 



156 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS 



• 



My heart beats with joy when I think that my 

birth 
Was in thee, nor in other blest nation on earth : 

From the north to the south, from the east to the 

west, 
Say, where is the land so by Providence blest ? 
Wherever I turn, all around is a smile, 
O Britain, my country, my dear native Isle ! 

2 

Who censures thy climate, and rails at thy 
year, 

While round him thy hills and thy vallies ap- 
pear ? 

The eye sees, excursive o'er climes as it rolls, 

Some burnt at the tropics, some froze' at the 
poles ; 

Here rarely thy heat and thy frost are intense, 

And spring, summer, autumn delight ev'ry sense ; 

Wherever, &€. 

3 
On the gales of Arabia, or Ceylon's spice groves 
The Poet's warm fancy in verse often roves, 
But to please the charm'd sense what can equal, 

Osay, 
The gales from our bean fields, or meads of new 

hay? 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 157 

What can rival the sweets which our gardens 

disclose, 
The lilac, syringa, the jasmine and rose ? 
Wherever, &c. 

4 
Some countries may boast, which are nearer the 

line, 
The ample, the fragrant, the brisk tasted pine, 
The orange and citron afford their sweet juice, 
But fine are the fruits which our gardens 

produce ; 

With those may the gage, and the pippin 
compare, 

The strawberry, the cherry, the peach or the 
pear, 

Wherever, &c. 

5 

Tho' France boast the joys of her brisk spark- 
ling wines, 

And Italy, Portugal, Spain their rich vines, 

Tho' Madeira be fam'd for its high-flavour'd 
grape, 

And we traffic afar for the too-luscious cape : 

Yet Britain can boast what her malt can produce, 
The currant's and gooseberry's gay sparkling 

juice : 
Wherever, &c. 






158 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS, 
6 

Thy sheep and thy kine o'er thy pastures that 

graze, 
Each fowl o'er thy fields, or thy homestalls 

that strays. 
Each fish in thy rivers that wantonly glides, 
Or those yearly brought to thy shores by the 
tides ; 

These all for delight and advantage are giv'n, 
Show Yd down by the bounty of all-forming 

Heav'n. 
Wherever, &c. 

7 

Where else is mankind in more civiliz'd state, 
Or where equal laws so protect poor and great, 
Where virtue with beauty more often combine, 
Or where manly courage as splendidly shine ? 

Where else is religion so purely profest, 
Where each left to cherish the wish of his breast ? 

Wherever, &c. 

8 

Then, Britain ! reflect with the fondest concern 
The duties demanded from thee in return ; 
With blessings thus gifted, acknowledge the hand 
That still hath protected thy high-favour'd land ; 






MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 159 

Be religion and morals thy jirst — only care, 
And HeavVs high protection thou ever wilt 

share : 
Then thy sons and thy prospects will still wear 

one smile, 
O Britain, my country, my dear native Isle. 

J. P. 



XXX. 

THE HORSE. 

Tune: Tlie Race Horse. B) Dibdin-. 



1 

Exulting in strength, how majestic's the Horse, 
His neck cloth'd with thunder, he gallops his 

course, 
His nostrils a glory tremendously shew, 
In the valley he paweth, unmov'd meets the foe ; 

With fierceness and rage how he swalloweth the 
ground, 

Ha ! Ha ! Hark he saith, while the hoarse trum- 
pets sound, 



160 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SO^GS. 

In the battle, in thunder, i'tli shout he gains force, 
How noble in nature, resistless the Horse !* 

2 
He, train'd to the road, draws the carriage along, 
Is true to his work 'mid the hubbub and throng, 
You would scarce think that aught hung be- 
hind at his heels, 
So swift, you discern not the spokes of the 
wheels. 

* Job xxxix. 19—25. See a Criticism on this passage in 
The Guardian, No. 86. 

Contrary to the opinion of a poetical Friend, I have ven- 
tured to retain the Sacred Writer's image of the horse's neck 
" clothed with thunder." He suggested that the present idea 
of thunder is merely that of the noise which follows the flash of 
lightning. Eat the original idea of thunder includes either the 
one, or the other, or b*t.;. We have the following definition in 
Johnson : 

1. " Thunder is a most bright flame rising on a sudden, 
moving with great violence, and with a very rapid velocity, 
through the air, according to any determination, upwards from 
the earth, horizontally, obliquely, downwards in a right line, 
or in several right lines, as it were in serpentine tracts, joined at 
various angles and commonly ending with a loud noise or rat- 
tling." 

2. " In popular and poetic language, thunder is commonly 
the noise, and lightning the flash ; though thunder is sometimes 
taken for both." 

The comparing the full, long, curled and flowing mane of a 
horse, with the light glancing upon it, to thunder, " Hast thou 
given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with 
thunder ?" appears to me to be an image peculiarly appropriate 
and sublime. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 161 

Now, led, meek and mild, whence he stood, at 

the rack, 
See, saddled, his master mounts feebly his back, 
With health waning fast to his aid hath recourse, 
Both a friend and physician he owns in his Horse. 

3 
Behold the heap'd Avaggon pulPd thro' the deep 

road, 
He takes the hard collar, and tugs on his load, 
From morning to night, from the night to the 

morn, 
With short seasons of rest is the hard burden 

borne ; 

Or view him again, with firm pace, drag the 
plow, 

Or drawing the Harvest Home quick to the 
mow, — 

O long might one make him a theme of dis- 
course, — 

How noble ! How useful ! the tractable Horse ! 

4 

Ah why do we then oft behold him abus'd, 
111 fed, overwork'd, and his Sabbath refus'd, 
Back gali'd and knees broken, sides panting 

with pain, 
Ah ! fatal mistake ! to hope thus to make gain ! 
P 2 



162 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

Ye owners ! ye drivers ! reflect, and be just, 
Know, Providence lends all his creatures in 

trust, 
x\nd they who misuse them, nor suffer remorse, 
Must account to the Maker of both man and 

Horse. 

J. P. 



XXXI. 

THE HARE HUNT, 

BY MR. DIBDIN. 



Since Zeph'rus first tasted the charms of coy 
Flora, 
Sure Nature ne'er beam'd on so lovely a 
morn, 
Ten thousand sweet birds court the smile of 
Aurora, 
And the woods loudly echo the sound of the 
horn : 

Yet the morn's not so lovely, so brilliant, so gay, 
As their splendid appearance in gallant array, 






MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 163 

When all ready mounted, they number their 

forces, 

Enough the \* ild boar and the tiger to scare : 

Pity fifty stout beings, count dogs, men, and 

horses, 

Should encounter such peril — to kill one poor 

hare ! 

■ /• • - - 

2 
Little wretqh, .thy fate's hard! — thou wert 
gentle and blameless ; 
Yet a type of the world in thy fortune we see ; 
And virtue, by monsters as cruel and shameless, 
Poor, defenceless, and timid, is hunted like 
thee. 

See ! vainly each path how she doubles and tries : 
If she scape the hound Treachery, by Slander 
she dies ! 

To o'ercome that meek fear for which men should 
respect her, 
Ev'ry art is employ 'd, ev'ry sly subtle snare — 
Pity those that were born to defend and protect her, 
Should hunt to her ruin — so timid a Hare ! 
3 

Thus it fares with poor Merit, which mortals 
should cherish, 
As the heaven-gifted spark that illumines the 
mind; 



164 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS, 



Id 



As Reason's best honour: lest with it shou 
perish 
Ev'ry grace that perfection can lend to 
mankind. 

Hark ! Envy's pack opens ; the grim lurcher, 
Fear, 
And the mongrel, Vexation, skulk sly in the 
rear: 

The rest all rush on, at their head the whelp 
Slander, 
The fell mastiff Malice, the greyhound 
Despair J 
Pity beings best known by bright Truth and 
fair Candour 
Should hunt down — shame to manhood — so 
harmless a Hare ! 

. 4 

Their sports at an end, harsh Reflection's 
beguiler 
To some thoughtless oblivion their souls they 
resign ; 

The Seducer takes pleasure, revenge the Re- 
viler, 

The Hunter's oblivion, as hurtful, is wine. 

Thus having destroy 'd every rational joy 
That can dignify Reason, they Reason destroy : 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 165 

And yet not in vain, if this lesson inspirit 
Ought of reverence for Genius, respect for 
the Fair : 
So the tear of lost Virtue and poor ruin'd Merit 
The sad manes shall appease of the innocent 
Hare. 



XXXII. 

HUMANITY'S COT. 

BY MR. DIBDIN. 

1 

Ophorns, and of echoes, that thro' the woods ring. 
And of lads full of spirit and soul, 

And of gay sporting boxes let other bards sing, 
Merely built for the chase or the bowl : 

I bring yon, of Sportsmen, a true and try'd knot, 
Who sport a snug box, called Humanity's Cot. 

Is Honour in danger, Worth sunk by its fears, 
On those coursers their wishes, they're borne, 

To hunt Vice to the toils, and to dry Virtue'' s 
tears, 
As the sun melts the dew of the morn : 






166 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

Then join of true Sportsmen, so noble a knot. 
The good lads that inhabit Humanity's Cot. 

o 
O 

What chase a delight can more glorious yield, 
Than to hunt in so noble a track ? 

Vice and Folly the game, wide creation the field, 
And the Vot'ries of Honour the pack. 

Rejoice then, ye sportsmen, who are thrown by 

your lot, 
'Mongst the lads that inhabit Humanity's Cot. 

4 
Return'd from their toil, with life's comforts well 
stor'd, 
Reflection their food gives a zest ; 
Health seasons the viand that smoaks on their 
board, 
A clear conscience invites them to rest. 

And sweet are the slumbers that fall to the lot 
Of the lads that inhabit Humanity's Cot. 

5 
Let each English sportsman these maxims 
embrace, 
Who the spoils of true honour would share, 
All that's noxious to hunt to the toils in life's 

chase, 
All that's harmless and useful to spare : 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 167 

So the blessings of thousands shall make up 

their lot, 
And each sporting box vie with Humanity's cot. 



XXXIII. 
THE BRITISH BOW. 

Tune : True Blue. 

Sung at the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal British 

Bowmen, on the I2th of August, of which Society 

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales 

is the Patron. 



1 
When Britain's Isle, untaught to fear, 

Was sought by Caesar's powers, 
She call'd her gallant Sons of War 

To guard her chalky shores. 
" My Children, draw the British Bow, 
In Freedom's cause repel the Foe." 

2 ' 
By it Caractacus maintain'd 

For many a year the field ; 
By it Boadicea reign'd ; 

And taught proud Rome to yield ; 
Whene'er she drew the British Bow, 
She broke the ranks and thin'd the foe. 



168 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
3 

To save their cots from beasts of prey 

Our fathers form'd the Yew, 
In woods impervious to the day 

The savage boar they slew, 
And oft the stag and bounding roe 
Fell victims to the British Bow. 

4 
Their guard, their pleasure still it prov'd, 

In peace, in war the same, 
With it in search of food they rov'd, 

With it they fought for fame ; 
They fear'd nor beast, nor threat'ning foe, 
AH yielded to the British Bow* 

5 
The noble art we now restore, 

Erst gallant Cambria's boast, 
The arms our great forefathers bore 

Again adorn our coast, 
Our breasts with ancient ardour glow, 
Again we draw the British Bow. 

*6 
Array'd the feather'd shaft to send 

With art thro' yielding air, 
Oar lovely quiver'd nymphs attend, 

As amiable as fair ; 
And by their matchless skill bestow 
Fresh laurels on the British Bow. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 169 

7 
While summer's smiles the fields adorn, 

While George protects our train, 
We welcome thus a festal morn 

Amidst the flow'ry plain ; 
And still would have the world to know 
We glory in the British Bow. 

8 
Allay 'd be each corroding care, 

Be gloomy thoughts away I 
Contentment's smiles let each one wear 

To haii this happy day ; 
And while we bend the British Bow, 

Around let blest good humour flow. 



XXXIV. 
THE ARCHERS' BUGLE. 



The Bugle sounds, the Archers all 
Prepare to meet its cheerful call. 
The sun ascends with fervid rays, 
And all the valley's in a blaze, 
The south wind scarcely stirs the trees 9 
And odours float in every breeze, — 



170 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

What crouds now throng the verdant lawn, 
For the Archers shoot for the Bugle horn. 

2 
The Butts are plac'd, the Targets' dyes 
In brilliant circles meet the eyes ; 
And now behold the archer band, 
With quiver'd back, and Bow in hand, 
Advance, and anxious draw the lot 
To take precedence in the shot, — 
While int'rest sways the peopled lawn, 
As the Archers shoot for the Bugle horn. 

3 
Erect and firm, with steady eye, 
The strong-nerv'd hand they well apply, 
The bending bow, th' elastic string 
The arrow send with pow'rful spring, 
With whirring instantaneous flight, 
Like motion of the rapid light. — 
Surprise and wonder fill the lawn, 
As the Archers shoot for the Bugle horn. 

4 
Tho' all are good, yet some excel, 
High-honour'd he who bears the bell ; 
The arrow, which unerring flies 
To th' golden centre, gains first prize % 
Best shots and numbers also count, 
Three rounds shall give up the amount, — 






MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 171 

Applause shall reign throughout the lawn, 
As the Archer gains the Bugle horn. 

5 

Oh ! happy art, from war to cease, 

The amusement now of joy and peace, 
Health, cheerfulness and grace are thine, 
And brave and fair in sport to join ; 
With mirth and reason wisely gay, 
The feast concludes the happy day, 
And pleasure smiles throughout the lawn, 
As the Archers sing to the Bugle horn. 



XXXV. 

ADDRESS TO A FLY. 

THE SENTIMENT FROM STERNE, 



1 

Ah silly, vain and buzzing Fly, 
Annoy me not, but from me hie ; 
I would not hurt one hair of thee, 
And why wilt thou thus pester me ? 

2 
Again thou com'st — I have thee now — 
But out of window thou shalt go. 
Go, get thee gone : with pardon flee, 
There's room i' th' world for thee and me. 

J. P. 






172 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

XXX VI. 

THE SEA. 

A Song For The Anniversary Meeting of The 

Directors and Governors of the Sea-bathing 

Infirmary at Margate. 



Tune : The Anacreontic . 






The Sea, as its waves after waves loudly roll, 
And its tides or recede from or gain on the 
shore, 
With awe and devotion exalts the full soul, 
And the Maker's loud praises extols in its 
roar. 

This made the « sweet Psalmist" enraptur'd 
exclaim, 
O these are thy works, great and manifold, 
Lord! 
Earth and ocean alike boundless wisdom pro- 
claim, — 
Be thy wisdom and goodness by all breath 
ador'd.* 



* Psalm civ. 24— 2o. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 17, 



The sea doth in commerce realms far distant 

join, 

Uniting as friends whom it seems to divide, 

In fellowship brings both the poles and the line, 

As swift o'er its billows rich merchantmen ride. 

Within its own bosom vast treasures it bears, 
Each creature that creeps or disports on the 
fin, 
In herring-shoals myriads each season it rears, 
And the whale " who delights to take pastime 
therein." 

3 

These are but in part what the Parent of Good 
Hath show Yd down of mercies benignantly 
free, 
A constant Bethesda still flows the salt flood, 
And health, strength and spirits we gain from 
the sea. 

Here, bathing, the bow'd may soon, brac'd, 
walk upright, 
The blood, now contaminate', wash and be 
clean, 
The dim may recover the blessing of sight, 
And the unnerv'd by palsy in vigour be 
seen. 

q2 



1/4 MORAL AXD MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 



4 

But, alas ! how shall those who droop thus far 
in land, 
Whom poverty more than their sickness 
bows down ? — 
Poor wretches! no means can their stations 
command, 
They languish unpitied, they sorrow un- 
known. 

Taught by Him, who made sea, and all men 
of one race, 
A Bethesda, a house of reception, we 
raise; 
Humanity's friends! the blest object em- 
brace, 
Bestow here your wealth to your Maker's 
high praise. 



O ye, who for health here approach the 
wide sea, 
And ye, to these shores who for pleasure 
repair, 
Wide open your hands with hearts grateful 
and free, 
Give the lame and afflicted your blessings 
to share. 

i 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 175 

Then, if on the bed of affliction you lie, 
He, who comfort in sickness alone can 
bestow, 
Will grant you his aid when for mercy you 
cry, 
And shed healing dews on your sickness 
and woe.* 

J. P. 



XXXVII. 
WINTER. 



1 

Diieary Winter o'er the plain 
Spreads once more his mantle dun ; 

Frosty mists and drizzling rain 
Chill the air and mask the sun. 

2 
Music leaves the drooping grove — 

Pleasure quits the blasted green-^- 
Arbours, late the haunts of love, 

All deserted now are seen ! 



* Psalm xli. 1—3. 



176 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
3 

Cheerful round the social hearth, 
Where the well-trimm'd embers glow? 

Passing time with tales of mirth, 
Sit the Cot's promiscuous row. 

4 
Deep and dirty is the road, 

Difficult to man and steed : 
Round the opulent abode 

Crowd the shivering Sons of Need, 

5 

Deal your alms now to the poor, 
Ye with wealth and plenty blest I 

Thus a treasure you'll secure 
In the realms of joy and rest. 



But if you the poor shall spurn 

In a season such as this, 
Can ye hope, beyond life's bourn 

Mercy's promis'd meed of bliss ? 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 177 
XXXVIII. 

THE DYING NEGRO. 

Tune : The Cherokee Death Song. 



1 

O'er my toil-wither 'd limbs sickly languors 

are shed, 
And the dark mists of death on my eyelids 

are spread ; 
Before my last sufferings how gladly I bend ! 
For the strong arm of Death is the arm of a 

friend. 

2 
Against the hot breezes hard struggles my breast, 
Slow, slow beats my heart, and I hasten to rest ; 
No more shall sharp anguish my faint bosom 

rend, 
For the strong arm of Death is the arm of a 

friend. 

3 
No more shall I sink in the deep-scorching air, 
No more shall keen hunger my weak body tear, 
No more on my limbs shall swift lashes descend, 
For the strong arm of Death is the arm of a 
friend. 



178 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 
4 

Ye ruffians ! who tore me from all I held dear, 
Who mock'd at my wailings and smil'd at my 

tear, 
Now, now shall I 'scape, every suffering shall 

end, 
For the strong arm of Death is the arm of a 

friend. 



XXXIX. 

THE NEGRO'S EXULTATION, 

1807. 



1 

No longer the Negroes complain^ 
Nor blindly accuse Fate's decree. 

Glad tidings are borne o'er the main. 
For Britons have said be ye free ! 

On them hath light graciously beam'd, 
They strive to assuage all our smart, 

The Black as a Brother is deem'd, 
And love dawns in every heart. 



MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 179 
2 

They told us before of their God, 

Their Saviour who came to redeem, — 

Our backs smarting still with the rod, 
We thought it a fable or dream. 

But now we are sure it is true, 

Their actions confirm our belief, 
Nor longer their servants shall rue 

The Gospel which brings such relief ! 
3 
The fetters they strike from our hands 

With a love that is willing and kind ; 
And they say they will loosen the bands, 

Which fetter the Negro's rude mind. 

Oh ! if Christ has commanded you this, 

Delay not to shew us the way, 
With Him must be concord and bliss, 

And Him will we serve and obey. 
4 
And thus, for the evils you've wrought, 

You will make us, indeed^ great amends, 
We'll forget that a Black e'er was bought. 

Since Britons are now our best Friends. 

Yes, there must be a life after this, 
We acknowledge the Heavenly Powers, 

We shall smile at past tears in that bliss ; 
Your Saviour and God shall be ours. 

J. P. 



180 MORAL AND MISCELLANEOUS SONGS. 

XL. 

MUSIC. 

A GLEE COMPOSED IN ITT9 
BY S. WEBBE. 



Music's the language of the Blest above ; 
No voice but Music's can express 
The joys that happy souls possess, 

Nor in just raptures tell the wond'rous power of 
love. 

'Tis Nature's dialect, design'd 
To charm and captivate the mind. 

Music's an universal good, 
That doth dispense its joys around, 
In all the elegance of sound, 

To be by men admir'd, by Angels understood. 



1S1 
LETTER 17. 

ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 



Sept. 10, 1810. 
SIR, 

r rom your observations on Moral Songs and 
the joint Collection of Moral and Miscellaneous 
which you have given, we proceed to the Con- 
vivial. You say in your Essay on Song- 
writing (p. xxxi, &c.) " as Milton, in his 
Com us, has not scrupled to let the advocate of 
pleasure be heard, and that, in very persuasive 
language, trusting to the counteraction of more 
solid arguments in favour of sobriety, it might 
perhaps be excess of rigour to banish from 
song-poetry every lively effusion of this kind. 
The pleasures which this lax morality of poets 
has been chiefly employed to excuse and 
varnish, have at all times been those of love 
and wine, allowable, indeed, in a certain degree 
to exhilarate the anxious lives of mortals, but 
always prone to pass the bounds of moderation. 
Music lias lent a'willing aid to these incitements ; 
and the classes of amorous and drinking Songs 

R 



182 , LETTER IV. 

have in all languages been the most copiously 
furnished. There Is, however, a great dif- 
ference in the variety and compass of intellectual 
ideas afforded by these two sources of enjoy- 
ment. The bacchanalian has little more scope 
in his lyric effusions, than to ring changes upon 
the hilarity, or rather delirium, inspired by his 
favourite indulgence, which puts to flight all 
the suggestions of care and melancholy, and 
throws the soul into that state of felicity which 
springs from exalted animal spirits, and a tem- 
porary suspension of the reasoning faculties. 
The essence, therefore, of this kind of pleasure, 
if such it can be called, is an excess — some- 
thing gross and degrading, adverse to thought, 
and therefore barren of sentiment. The inge- 
nuity of poets has, indeed, connected it with a 
vivacity of imagination that is very capti- 
vating, especially when enforced by the pre* 
sence of the flowing bowl and jovial companions ; 
and it must be confessed that actual singing i s 
seldom so heartily enjoyed as in the chorus of a 
convivial party. But, without such an accom- 
paniment, the dr hiking- song flattens upon the 
perusal, and its glowing expressions appear 
little better than extravagant. It is likewise apt 
to sink into coarseness and vulgarity ; so that the 
more select collections of vocal poetry will bear 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 183 

but a small admixture of these compositions, 
which succeed so well in " setting the table in 
a roar." 

You admitj Sir, in the passage just quoted, 
that there has been a lax morality employed by 
poets in excusing and varnishing the pleasures 
of love and wine, and that these pleasures are 
always prone to pass the bounds of moderation. 
You call the hilarity of the Bacchanalian a 
delirium, springing from no better source than 
a temporary suspension of the reasoning fa- 
culties. You express a doubt of calling it even 
a pleasure ) and admit the essence of it to be an 
excess, — something gross and degrading. 

Afterwards, in stating the different kinds of 
Songs, which you have introduced into your 
Collection, you say " A very scanty assort* 
ment of Convivial Songs succeeds, dedicated 
to the festal board, and imitating the gaiety and 
freedom of the Anacreontic lays. It was impos- 
sible altogether to omit a class so universally 
received into Song- Collections ; but as I feel no 
ambition to be regarded as a priest of Bacchus, 
I have limited my choice to a small specimen of 
those which have been inspired by wit and 
poetry, as well as by wine." (p. xlvii.) 

To a Convivial Song, a festal board, or 
gaiety, I desire not to make any general ob- 



184 JbEXTJBB JLY. 

jection. All depends on the hounds -within 
which they are kept. If the freedom be & 
freedom from the strictest decorum and sobriety, 
we may object to it as primarily wrong, and we 
may also object to it as defeating its own end,-— 
as (on the whole, and in a course of repetitions,) 
producing less real pleasure than festivity duly 
regulated. The Convivial Songs in your Col- 
lection appear to me to contain many highly 
objectionable passages : and I am happy to be 
able to produce your own authority (in the first 
quotation) in opposition to passages which 
appear to promote the excess you have decidedly 
blamed. 

Irj your Letters on Poetry (L. ix. p. 121.) 
where you have mentioned Milton's Comus, you 
say that " It represents the triumph of virtue 
over lawless pleasure ; and the author deserves 
high applause for the skill with which, after 
exhilarating the mind with the festal gaiety of 
Comus, and even assailing the reason with sophis- 
tical arguments in favour of licentiousness, he 
finally brings over the reader to the side of 
sobriety by the charms of poetic eloquence." 
Here again, Sir, we have your support in oppo- 
sition to such festal gaietj/ as that of Comus. 
But, I will ask, Is there not danger that these 
sophistical arguments in favour of licentious* 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 185 

nesSj especially when set off by a lively strain 
of poetry and music and a lively manner, will 
make an impression, which the " more solid 
arguments in favour of sobriety" may not be 
able to counteract ? Something of this kind you 
seem to apprehend from the " eloquent ha- 
rangue" which Thomson has put into the mouth 
of Indolence in his Poem of The Castle of 
Indolence : " I know not, indeed, whether it is 
not almost too persuasive for the moral effect of 
the piece, especially when enforced by the 
delicious picture of the life led in the mansion of 
pleasure. No wonder .that the poet himself 
was too well disposed to become a subject of the 
Power whose allurements he so feelingly de- 
scribes ; and we may believe that he spoke from 
his heart when he exclaimed 

" Escap'd the castle of the Sire of sin, 

Ah ! where shall I so sweet a dwelling find ?" (L. xvi. p. 221.) 

In your Letters to your Son, (Vol. 2, L. xv. 
p. 272.) speaking of " the effects of poetry in 
softening and humanizing the soul," you say, 
"I am most pleased with a story told of the 
effect of a happy quotation from Homer made 
by the philosopher Xenocrates. This truly 
respectable man being sent as ambassador to the 
court of Antipater, for the redemption of some 
r 2 



186 LETTER IV 



... 



Athenian captives, was courteously invited by 
the prince to sit down with him to supper. He 
instantly replied to the offer in the generous 
words spoken by Ulysses to Circe on the same 
occasion : 

O Circe ! who of human soul possess'd 

Could glut with food and drink, while yet in bonds 

His dear companions lie ? If truly kind 

You bid me to the festal board's repast, 

O free them first, and give them to m> sight ! Odyg. B. x. 

Antipater was so struck with the ingenuity and 
patriotism of this application, that he imme- 
diately ordered the release of the prisoners." 

What would have been the effect, Sir, if in- 
stead of storing his mind with patriotic and 
moral sentiments, he had been only, or chiefly, 
versed in Bacchanalian poetry, and cited some 
such passage as many of those contained in your 
selection of convivial Songs ? 

You seem to me to be perfectly aware of the 
fascination of such compositions, and especially 
in the " convivial party' * ; and, surely, Sir, it is, 
on that very account, the business of the poet 
and the moralist, to endeavour to moderate this 
propensity and to restrain it within its due 
bounds. You have disclaimed the being re- 
garded as a a priest of Bacchus". This must 
certainly be commended: and I can only 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 187 

wish, that, in conformity with it, you had been 
more careful, through your selection, to avoid 
whatever might heighten the devotions to that 
deity. You say " It was impossible altogether 
to omit a class so universally received into 
Song-Collections ;" and yet, Sir, you have 
omitted Naval and Military Songs as classes, 
and given but very few of either amongst the 
others, and have excluded Hunting Songs 
entirely. 

I am not here pleading for Hunting Songs, or 
for the exclusion of all Convivial Songs : but 
only wish to shew, that, as you had excluded 
other Songs, it was not impossible to exclude the 
Convivial; if> indeed you preferred that to a 
greater care in selecting such as could meet with 
a just approbation. 

When I began compiling my Collection of 
Songs with music, I experienced the difficulty 
of selecting songs upon this subject. In my 
first publication, however, I inserted with some 
few alterations The Generous Soul, an old 
Song, The Bottle, by Hugh Kelly, and Ne'er 
be drunk again, from Mr. Ritson's Collection, 
and the Song upon Tobacco, as an accompa- 
niment to drinking, In the first volume of my 
second Collection in 12mo. I added The Busy 
Fly, Two Glees, Beer, or The Hop Feast, by 



188 LETTEil IV. 

Garrick, Jovial Youths, by Shenstone, and I 
even ventured to insert one intitled The Water 
Drinker, thinking that it might at least meet 
with readers, if not with singers ; not being the 
first poet who has attempted the praise of water- 
drinking. For, in your Essay prefixed to 
Armstrong's Art of Preserving Health, in giving 
an analysis of the Poem, you say " The praise 
of water-drinking follows ; with the precepts of 
the father of physic for choosing rightly this 
pure and innocent beverage. Notwithstanding 
the apparent earnestness with which the poet 
dwells on this topic, there is some reason to 
suspect that he was not quite hearty in the cause. 
For he not only adopts the notion of those who 
have recommended an occasional debauch as a 
salutary spur to nature; but, descanting on the 
necessity a man may find himself under to 
practice hard drinking in order to promote the 
pursuits of ambition or avarice, he advises him 
(between jest and earnest) to enure himself 
to the trial by slow degrees. Here the phy- 
sician and sage seem lost in the jolly compa- 
nion.' ' (p. 16.) Afterwards, in treating of the 
passions, you say, u Some persons, however, 
take a less innocent method of dispelling grief, 



and in the tempting bowl 

Of poison' d nectar, sweet oblivion swill. 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 1S9 

The immediately exhilarating effects, and the 
sad subsequent reverse attending this baneful 
practice, are here painted in the most vivid 
colouring, and form a highly instructive and 
pathetic lesson. Particularly, the gradual 
degradation of character which it infallibly 
brings on, is finely touched." (p. 24.) After 
thus appearing, Sir, as u the physician and 
sage", I am concerned at finding those cha- 
racters, as I conceive, " lost," — " in the 
jolly companion" at least, if not in u the priest 
of Bacchus", (see p. 5. and 183.)* 

In the third Volume of my Collection, I 
could only add two songs upon this subject, one 
entitled My Mug of Beer, intended for the 
lower Classes, the other by Burns, deploring 
the fatal effects of The Fumes of Wine in 
estranging him from his friends. 

But, Sir, it does not appear to me, that even 



* The following very extraordinary passage, from a Letter 
by Burns, published by Dr. Currie, in his Life of him, 5th 
Edition, p. 164. is submitted to the consideration of the reader: 
" we ranged round the bowl till the good-fellow hour of six ; 
except a few minutes that we went out to pay our devotions to 
the glorious lamp of day peering over, the towering top of 
Benlomond. We all kneeled ; our worthy landlord's son held 
the bowl ; each man a full glass in his hand ; and I, as priest, 
repeated some rhyming nonsense, like Thomas a Rhymer's pro- 
phecies I suppose." 






190 LETTER IV. 

convivial parties require songs of such a de- 
scription as you have found it right to blame, 
while you thought it impossible wholly to 
omit them. I have heard songs of a useful 
tendency sung with applause on such occasions ; 
an instance of this I have mentioned in a Note 
to a Song in my third volume, p. 304. The 
Author of Marmion, in the Introduction to 
the Sixth Canto of that Poem, makes mention 
of his great-grandsire partaking in the festivities 
of Christmas in a very pleasing and religious 
manner : 

And thus, my Christmas still I hold 

Where my great-grandsire came of old ; 

With amber beard and flaxen hair, 

And reverend apostolic air — 

The feast and holy-tide to share, 

And mix sobriety with wine, 

And honest mirth with thoughts divine. * 

Having made these remarks and quotations, 
I shall proceed to consider the Songs themselves. 
The first Song (p. 62.) beginning 

Mortals, learn your lives to measure 
Not by length of time, but pleasure; &c. 

is too much of the description mentioned 
before (p. 97, 98.) 

* It must be confessed that the Soldier's Song, introduced by 
the same writer in the Vlth Canto of his last Poem, The Lady 
or the Lake, is not in unison with these sentiments. I coo- 
sider it as highly objectionable. 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 191 

Dr. Doddridge's motto was Dum vivimus 
vivamus, to ^vhich sentiment he gave the fol- 
lowing turn, which Dr. Johnson said was the 
noblest Epigram in the English language : 

" Live whilst you live", the Epicure will say, 
'* And give to pleasure each returning day." 
'* Live whilst you live," the pious Preacher cries, 
'■ And give to God each momt-nt as it flies." 
Lord, in my ways may both united be, 
I live to pleasure when I live to Tuee. 

The author of the Book of the Wisdom of 
Solomon estimated life by a standard different 
from that in the Song under consideration : 
" Honourable age is not that which standeth in 
length of time, nor that is measured by number 
of years ; but Wisdom is the gray hair unto 
men, and an unspotted life is old age." 
(ch. iv. v. 9.) 

The second verse of this 6ong begins with the 
same two lines and then proceeds : 

Soon your spring must have a fall; 
Losing youth, is losing all, 

Solomon, in the Book ofEcclesiast.es (xi. 8, 9.) 
addresses Youth upon the subject of life, and 
he says, " If a man live many years, and 
rejoice in them all ; yet let him remember the 
days of darkness, for they shall be many. All 
that cometh is vanity. Rejoice, O Young 



192 LETTER IT. , 

Man, in thy youth ; and let thy heart cheer thee 
in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways 
of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes." 
This is generally understood to have been 
meant ironically, as if he had said, Indulge all 
the pleasures to which your corrupt alfections 
or natural inclinations lead, for he adds : "but 
know thou," be assured of this, " that for all 
these things God will bring thee into judgment. " 
(see Orton's Exposition. Vol. v. p. 141.) 

The next Song, Sir, by Dr. Dalton, a 
Doctor in Divinity, begins (p. 63.) 

Preach not me your must}' rules, 
Ye drones that mould in idle cell ; 

The heart is wiser than the schools, 
The senses always reason well. 

Here, again, Sir, the Poet and the Divine are 
at variance with scripture, there we are told, 
that u The heart is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked : Who can know it ?" 
(Jeremiah xvii. 9.) And if, by the senses, we 
are to understand not reason, but the animal 
appetites, which I suppose is the meaning, 
then again the Poet is at variance with the 
Apostle, who says " Walk in the spirit, and ye 
shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh 
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against 
the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 193 

other : so that ye cannot do the things that ye 
would." (Gal. v. 17.) The song proceeds : 

If short ray span, I less can spare 
To pass a single pleasure by. 

Which, if not literally false, so long as pleasure 
does not interfere with duty, yet, as it stands 
here, is evidently part of a system reprobated 
by some of the foregoing observations. 

To this song you have annexed a Note: 
M This and the following short piece are 
taken from the writer's alteration of Comus, 
by which he has certainly given more force to 
the voluptuous doctrine than Milton would have 
approved, yet has displayed a fine taste and 
uncommon talents for compositions of this kind." 
After what you have said before upon the sub- 
ject of taste, (see p. 16.) and upon Milton's 
" lax morality" and " sophistical arguments," 
(p. 181, 184.) I think, Sir, you have here written 
your own condemnation of the song in question, 
and of the following one^ by the same author, 
and from the same piece, beginning " By the 
gaily-circling glass". It (p. 64.) ends with 

Soon, too soon, the busy day 
Drives us from our sport and play. 
What have we with day to do ? 
Sons of care ! 't was made for you. 

Surely these ideas are inconsistent with the 
s 



194 LETTER IV. 

habits of one (however cheerful) who gives to 
his daily duties the attention requisite, and who 
feels himself accountable to his Creator and | 
Judge for the use which he makes of his time, 
as well as of all other talents intrusted to his 
management ? 

The next Song, " Busy, curious, thirsty 
Fly!" (p. 64.) is amongst the Drinking Songs 
in the first volume of my Collection, with a 
third verse, which I found attached to it in 
some collection, and a fourth then first 
added. It deserves the praise you have 
bestowed upon it. 

The next, by Fawkes, in imitation of Ana- 
creon, " When I drain the rosy bowl," (p. 65.) 
contains the usual ingredients of an Anacreontic, 
the Nine, — Bacchus — Venus — &c. It casts a 
ridicule on " sober counsels", it recommends 
the disgraceful jollity which leads to intoxication 
as the means of sweeping away our sorrows and 
getting rid of that time as a dull companion, 
which is one of our most valuable treasures ; and 
it represents the quaffing of the sparkling wine, 
with its accompaniments, as what sets the true 
value upon u life's rural scene, sweet, seques- 
ter'd, and serene." How ill applied are these 
epithets to any scene filled with the disgusting 
restlessness and noise of Bacchanalians, or with 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 195 

the uncheering duluess of men, who, by present 
or habitual sottishness, have stupiiied their 
senses ! And what a contrast is here to the true 
and rational enjoyment of rural scenery! I 
cannot forbear in this place inserting a passage 
from Cowper's Table Talk on the corruption 
of poetry : 

In Eden, ere yet innocence of heart 
Had faded, poetry was not an art ; 
Language, above all teaching, or, if taught, 
Only by gratitude and glowing thought, 
Elegant as simplicity, and warm 
As ecstacy, unmanacled by form, 
Not prompted, as in our degen'rate days, 
By low ambition and the thirst of praise, 
But natural as is the flowing stream, 
And yet magnificent— a God the theme! 

That theme on earth exhausted, though above 
'Tis found as everlasting as his love, 
Manlavish'd all his thoughts on human things— 
The feats of heroes, and the wrath of kings: 
But still, while virtue kindled his delight, 
The song was moral, and so far was right. 

'Twas thus till luxury sedue'd the mind 
To joys less innocent, as less reriii'd; 
Then Genius dane'd a Bacchanal ; he crown'd 
The brimming goblet, seiz'd the thyrsus, bound 
His brows with ivy, rush'd into the field 
Of wild imagination, and there reel'd, 
The victim of his own lascivious fires, 
And, dizzy with delight, profan'd the sacred wires. 
Anacreon, Horace, play'd in Greece and Rome 
This Bedlam part ; and others nearer home. 

Lines J384, &c. 



196 LETTER IT* 

To this I will add, from The Minor Mi.n- 
strel, By William Hollow aj/> an 

ANACREONTIC 

ON NEW PRINCIPIiES.* 



" I aaid of laughter it i9 mad, and of mirth what doeth iL* 

Eccles. ii. ?. 



Fill the nectar-sparkling bowl * 
Wake the raptures of the soul ) 
Dissipate foreboding fears; 
Banish all the train of Cares ! 
Spread, Euphrosyne, the feast! 
"Welcome every jocund guest ! 
Music, yield thy sprightliest strain ( 
Love, assume thy tenderest reign ; 
Beauty, arm'd with flames and darts t 
Rouse our passions, fire our hearts ! 

Come, my boon companions ! now 
Twine your roses round my brow ! 
Join with me the sportive ring ; 
Lightly dance and cheerly sing : 
Gaily chase the fleeting hours : 
Strew the rugged path with flow'rs; 
Tell me, Youth is best employ'd, 
When convivially enjoy'd : 

* However unpleasant the truth may be, we venture to as- 
sert, that the most enchanting of our Anacreontics have a ten- 
dency only to cherish Infidelity, and promote sentiments inimical 
to the principles of Christianity. 



ON CONVIVSAL SONGS, 197 

Say, when age his snows shall shed 
Gently o'er ray thoughtless head, 
You will ease the bosom's throes, 
You will soothe me to repose ; 
And, when those no more entice, 
Waft to joys of Paradise ! 

But what Paradise is thine? 
heedless votary of the vine ! 
Mirth, and jest, and revelry, 
What the hope you proffer me! 
Will it lead Life's steep adown 
Softly to theshadesunknown ? 
Will its promises be paid, 
When frail Nature needs your aid ] 
Do you from the prospect shrink, 
On Eternity's dread brink ? 
Treach'rous friends! O, save me! save! 
Will you quit meat the grave? 
Dearly I your counsels rue ! 
Wretched comforters, adieu! 

*The next Song, " The thirsty earth drinks up 
the rain," (p. 66.) is " freely translated from 
Anacreon, by Cowley. In this u the plants'* 
also are represented as u sucking in the earth," 
the " sea" as u drinking twice ten thousand 
rivers up" ? the u sun" as u drinking up the 
sea," and u the moon and the stars" as a drink* 
ing up the sun." This might, perhaps, be in 
some measure allowed as a figure of speech; 
but when the sun is represented as having a 
<6 drunken fiery face" and the poet affirms that 

Nothing in nature's sober found, 
But an eternal health goes round. 

s 2 



198 LETTER IV, 






I conceive that he goes much beyond what is 
admissible. 

Bishop Home, however, will direct us to a 
different use of the works of Nature. In his 
admirable Sermon on the Garden of Eden, he 
observes, 

" When it is said, « The Lord God took the 
man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to 
dress it, and to keep it," the words undoubt- 
edly direct us to conceive of it, as a place for 
the exercise of the body. We readily acquiesce 
in this, as the truth, but not as the whole truth ; 
it being difficult to imagine, that so noble a 
creature, the lord of the world, should have no 
other or higher employment. Much more satis- 
faction will be found in supposing, that our first 
parents, while thus employed, like the priests 
under the law, while they ministered in the 
temple, were led to contemplations of a more 
exalted nature, " serving to the example and 
shadow of heavenly things." (Heb. viii. 5.) 
" The powers of the body and the faculties of 
the mind might be set to work at the same time, 
by the same objects. And it is well known, 
that the words here used, do as frequently de- 
note mental as corporeal operations ; and under 
the ideas of dressing and keeping the sacred 
Garden, may fairly imply the cultivation 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 199 

and observation of such religious truths as 
were pointed out by the external signs and 
sacraments which Paradise contained." Again, 
speaking of man in Paradise, he says, " He 
studied the works of God, as they came fresh 
from the hands of the work-master, and in the 
creation, as in a glass, he was taught to behold 
the glories of the Creator. Trained, in the 
school of Eden, by the material elements of a 
visible world, to the knowlege of one that is 
immaterial and invisible, he found himself 
excited by the beauty of the picture, to aspire 
after the transcendent excellence of the divine 
original." The sacred writers have, accord- 
ingly, made use of the works of Nature as the 
material objects whereon to found moral and 
spiritual lessons, and many writers, in later 
times, following their example, have written 
books with this view. To make use of these, 
therefore, as authorities to sanction drunkenness, 
a sin which God has expressly forbid and will 
undoubtedly punish, appears to me in the 
nature of blasphemy against the Creator. This, 
certainly, was less reprehensible in the heathen 
Anacreon, but in a Christian we expect purer 
doctrine ; and I cannot but wonder that the late 
Bishop Hurd, in separating the good from the 
bad in Cowley's writings, should have retained 



200 LETTER IV. 






what he himself calls cc these mad Anacre- 
ontics." (Nurd's Cowley, Vol. I. p. 147.) 

Amongst the Anacreons of our own country, 
Walter de Mapes,* Archdeacon of Oxford, 
and styled " The Anacreon of the eleventh 
century," wrote an ode, beginning, Mihi est 
propositum in Tab em a mori 9 which I con- 
ceive to be as contrary to the spirit of Chris- 
tianity as any writing can well be. Yet it has 
found a translator, to give it fresh circulation in 
English, in Dr. Huddesford, in his Salmagundi, 
Strange to say, also, it met with a translator into 
Greek, in the late Frederick Wolfgang Reiz, 
Professor of Greek at Leipsic. 

The Song (p. 68.) beginning 

Wine, wine in the morning 
Makes us frolic and gay, 

is another instance of the poet in contradiction 
to the Prophet. (See p. 192.) Isaiah, says, 
" Woe unto them that rise up early in the morn- 
ing that they may follow strong drink, that con- 
tinue until night, till wine inflame them ! And 
the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and 
wine are in their feasts ; bnt they regard not the 



* See Pursuits of Literature, Dialogue I. p. 95. 14th 
Edition. 1S08. 



ON CONVIVIAL SONGS. 201 

work of the Lord, neither consider the opera- 
tion of his hands." (V. 1 1 , 12.) 

The last of these Convivial Songs (p. 69.) 
is an Anacreontic Glee, by a living author, con- 
sisting of Bacchus, Venus, " each light Grace 7 
with zone unbound," Cupid, &c. 

I cannot forbear observing, Sir, that of the 
eight convivial songs given in your volume, only 
two of them, the first and the seventh, appeared 
in your first publication. So that they cannot 
be viewed as the collection of a juvenile mind, 
in the hey-day of the blood, but as the deliberate 
selections of one in the cool evening of life. 
And yet there is only one of them, " Busy 9 
curious, thirsty Fly," which I consider as 
admissible. 

I am, Sir, 

With great respect, 
Your &c. 



However difficult the task may be, I shall 
attempt a selection of Songs for the use of con- 
vivial parties. Some of them have been long 
and deservedly popular ; there is nothing in 
them, I trust, contrary to sound morality, but 
each one may amuse and leave a good im- 
pression upon the mind. 



202 

CONVIVIAL SONG'S, 

I. 
MERRY AND WISE, 

Tune; Let Care be a Stranger. 



1 

In temperance train'd, yet I shun not the board, 
Where Plenty and Freedom their blessings 

afford ; 
The good things of earth we may freely enjoy, 
So we taste not of pleasure till pleasure shall cloy. 
In mirth and good-humour, I own, I delight, 
When mirth and good-humour are order'd 

aright 
Good friends and good-cheer in due season I 

prize, 
And my maxim is still — Be ye merry and wise, 

2 
Should indecency dare to speak out in a jest, 
Then mirth is degraded and wit is a pest ; 
Nor scruple I make to pronounce it more 

wrong- 
When music and verse give it zest in a song. 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 203 

Let wit, like the gold from the furnace be pure, 
Let verse give the song the chaste ear may 

endure ; 
I love but that mirth whence no dangers arise, 
For my maxim is still — Be ye merry and wise. 

3 
If our wine, or our ale, or whatever we quaff, 
Instead of promoting the full friendly laugh, 
Should tend to create either discord or broil, 
And the ends- of society wantonly spoil, 
'Tis a waste of good things, 'tis a waste of our 

time, 
'Tis a meeting unsanction'd by u reason or 

rhyme", 
So when strife begins, then I straightway arise, 
For my maxim is still — Be ye merry and wise. 

4 

Unless from the feast I retire witli clear head, 
And blameless next morn can arise from my bed, 
If my neighbour I love not with more cordial 

heart 
For the flow of good-humour unchecked till we 

part, 
I were better at home with my plain bread and 

cheese, 
Where my wife and my children endeavour to 

please, 



201 CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

Where all is good humour, and no one denies 

'Tis the maxim of Wisdom — -Be merry 

and WISE. 

J. P. 



II. 
THE HONEST FELLOW 

BY THE REV. C. BUCKLE. 
Tone : Corn Riggs are bonvy* 



1 
Ye jovial sons of mirth and glee, 

Let's jocund be full well O ! 
Well pleas 'd I look around to see 

Each one an honest fellow. 

2 
Of woe and heart- corroding care, 

Of pain and grief ne'er tell O ! 
In vain they seek for entrance here, 

To wound each honest fellow. 

S 
The miser, fond of useless store, 

Could he reflect but well O ! 
Would to the needy ope his door, 

And be an honest fellow* 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 205 



The Lover, with an April face, 
His plaintive tale does tell O. 

For shame ! with ardour press the chace , 
You'll be a charming fellow. 

5 

The Courtier, proud ambition's slave, 
Knows where to fawn full well O ; 

How base the tricks of such a knave ! 
Beneath an honest fellow ! 

6 

The essenc'd Fop, how vain his air, 
This truth will find full well O ! 

The man who wins the British fair, 
Must be an honest fellow. 

7 

With heart sincere and free from guile. 

He scorns a lie to tell O ! 
His friend he welcomes with a smile, 

This is an honest fellow. 



Fale envy, wrangling, strife forgot. 
Be mine one wish to tell O ! 

May joy and peace be still the lot 
Of every honest fellow. 

T 



206 CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

9 
Then charge each glass and join my lay, 

The liquor's old and mellow, 
Each jog his friend and nodding say, 

Here's to thee, honest fellow. 



III. 

ARISTIPPUS.* 



1 

Let care be a stranger to each cheerful soul, 
Who can, like Aristippus, his passions controul ; 
Of wisest Philosophers wisest was he, 
Who, attentive to ease, let his mind still be free. 
The Prince, Peer, or Peasant to him were the 

same, 
For, pleas' d, he was pleasing to all where lie 

came; 
But still turn'd his back on contention and strife, 
Resolving to live all the days of his life. 



* " To " live all the days of our lives," in a rational, not a 
Bacchanalian sense, is most desirable ; for our mortal existence 
is a burden, and not a blessing, when the spring of the mind, as 
well as the sinews of the body, is broken down, and feeble 
dependence is constrained to lean on extraneous support." 

Mrs. West's Letters to a Young Lady, Vol. III. p. 371. 
3d Edit. 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 207 

2 
A friend to mankind, all mankind was his friend, 
And the peace of his mind was his ultimate end. 
He found fault with none, if none found fault 

with him, 
If his friend had a humour, he humour'd his 

whim. 
He thought 'twas unsocial to be malcontent, 
If the tide went with him, with the tide too he 

went, 
But still turn'd his back on contention and strife, 
Resolving to live all the days of his life. 

3 
Was the nation at war, he wish'd well to the 

sword, 
If a peace was concluded, then pea ce was his word : 
Disquiet to him, or of body or mind, 
Was the Longitude only he never could find : 
The Philosophers' stone was but gravel and 

pain, 
And all who had sought it had all sought in 

vain, 
He still turn'd his back on contention and strife, 
Resolving to live all the days of his life. 

4 
Then let us all follow Aristippus's rules, 
And deem his opponents both asses and mules ; 



20S CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

Let those, not contented to lead or to drive, 
Like the bees of their sects be drove out of their 

hive : 
ExpelPd from the mansions of qniet and ease, 
They never will find the blest art how to please j 
While our friends and ourselves, not forgetting 

our wives, 
By these maxims may live all the days of our 

lives. 



IT. 
LAUGH AND GROW FAT.* 



1 

To rival the miser who broods o'er his plurn^ 
Or to envy the great, I shall never presume. 



* The sentiments of this song must of course be understood 
in that happy medium, so difficult, but so desirable to be ob- 
tained, between gloom and moroseness, on the one hand, and 
excessive laughter on the other. (See p. 196.) Something has 
been said on this subject before, p. 96. Writers upon The 
Passions and on Medicine mention the beneficial effects of mo- 
derate laughter. See Cogan on the Passions, Pt. I. Ch. ii. 
Art. Joy, &c. Dallas on Self-knowledge, Pt. Til. Sect. iii. 
on Mirth. Encyc. Brit. Art. Laughter, and Buchan's Do- 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 209 

Tho' wealth to mankind as a blessing was sent,* 
With much or with little I'm always content ; 
Then, should I grow rich, I'll ne'er murmur 

at that, 
Or, if I grow poor, still 1 laugh and grow fat. 

2 

Tho' patriots and placemen each other abuse, 
'Tis nothing to me, I've no pension to lose. 
Tho' they levy new taxes, for me, I protest 
I will not complain whilst I fare like the rest ; 
So, if Outs become Ins, I'll ne'er murmur at 

that, 
Or, if Ins become Outs, still I'll laugh and 

grow fat. 

3 

Tho' love, I confess, is a part of my care, 
And Celia's " the fairest of all that are fair," 
Altho' I'm enamour'd, I'm not such an elf 
As to think of my mistress and not of myself; 



mestic Medicine ch. xxxvi. on The Jaundice. Laughter is 
mentioned in Scripture in some degree as a Blessing, " Blessed 
are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh." (Luke vi. 21. ) 
*' Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with 
joy." (Psalm cxxvi. 2.) And, in that beautiful composition 
the sixty-fifth Psalm, laughter is even attributed to the inani- 
mate creation: " the valleys also shall stand so thick with corn 
that they shall laugh and sing." (V. 14.) See also my Dis- 
courses on the Stage, Disc. III. p. 52, &c. 
T 2 



210 CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

If she smiles, then, of course, I'll ne'er murmur 

at that, 
Or if she should frown, still I'll laugh and 

grow fat. 

4 
When I urge the soft plea, should she kindly 

incline 
To crown my fond wish, and consent to be 

mine, 
I'd seize the blest moments, and make her my 

wife, 
In hope of contentment and pleasure for life ; 
Tho' cares should ensue, I'll ne'er murmur at 

that, 
But all my life long will I laugh and grow fat. 



V. 
FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE. 

FROM THE OPERA OF FONTAINBLEAU. 

BV o'KEEFE. 



Tho' Fame sound the trumpet and cry " To 
the war," 
Tho' Glory re-echo the strain ; 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 211 

The full tide of honour may flow from the scar, 
And heroes may smile on their pain ; 

The treasures of Autumn tho' Bacchus display, 
And stagger about with his bowl, 

On science tho' Sol beam the lustre of day, 

v And Wisdom give light to the soul : 

Tho' India unfold her rich gems to the view, 

Each virtue, each joy to improve, 
Oh ! give me the Friend, whom I know to be true. 

And the Fair, whom I tenderly love : 
What's Glory, but Pride? a vain bubble is 
Fame, 

And riot the pleasure of wine ; 
What's riches, but trouble $ and title's a name. 

But Friendship and Love are Divine. 



VI. 
THE SENTIMENTALIST. 

BY COLLINS. 



1 

Now we're launch'd on the world 
With our sails all unfurl'd, 
'Fore the wind down the tide proudly posting, 



212 CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

May the voyage of Life, 
Free from tempest and strife, 
Prove as calm as a smooth water coasting. 
But should some sudden squall, incidental to all 

Rouse up reason to reef ev'ry sail, boys, 
Be your's and my lot to have such a pilot 
When passion increases the gale, boys. 

For to what point soe'er 
Of the compass we steer, 
While the helm still obeys her direction, 
'Tis as sure as the light 
That the joys of the night 
Will ne'er shrink from the morning's reflection; 
And when rest or refreshment succeeds work 
or play, 
That enjoyment from each it may still flow, 
May true Friendship's hand lead us on by the 
way, 
And true Love share the rest of our pillow* 

3 

But, blow high, or blow low, 

Let it rain, freeze, or snow, 
And clay-cold and wet should our birth be, 

The lamb newly shorn 

Shews the blast may be borne, 
Should our station on sea or on earth be : 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 213 

And, as poor Robin lled-breast will chirp on 
the spray, 
Almost stripp'd by the frost of each feather, 
May a Conscience as clear as the sun at noon 
day 
Keep us warm in the coldest of weather. 



VII. 

MIRTH. 

A Glee for four voices : by Paxton. 
WRITTEN BY DR. SCOTT. 

Come, oh come, delightful guest X 

Child of tranquil ease and pleasure ; 
Ever blessing, ever blest, 

Here diffuse thy choicest treasure. 
Come, sweet Mirth, and bring with thee, 
Sportive Song and merry glee ; 
But ah, sweet maid, all playful tricks remove, 

Let no offensive sounds invade the ear, 
But such as bashful Beauty may approve, 

And Modesty, without a blush, can hear. 
Then this blooming radiant throng, 

Shall applaud thy festive measures ; 
Darting joyous smiles along, 

Giving and receiving pleasures : 
What sweet raptures fire the mind 
When beauty's charms, and music are combin'd ! 



214 CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

VIII. 

THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE. 

ALTERED FROM A DUET. 
1 

Could a Man be secure 
That his life would endure, 

As of old for a thousand long year. 
What arts might he know, 
What acts might he do, 

And all without hurry or care. 

2 

But, as we have but span-long lives, 

The more we'll call each hour a treasure ; 
And, since Time will not stay, 
We'll seize upon the present day, 

And with good deeds will fill the measure. 



IX. 
A DEHORTATION FROM DRINKING, 

BY A LATE EMINENT PHYSICIAN. 
From the London Magazine for September 1746. 

1 

Pass by a tavern door, my son, 

This sacred truth write on thy heart: 

'Tis easier company to shun, 
Than at a pint it is to part. 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 215 

2 

For one pint draws another in, 

And that pint lights a pipe; 
And thus, in th' morn, they tap the day. 

And drink it out e'er night, 

3 
Not dreaming of a sudden bounce, 

From vinous sulphurs stor'd within; 
Which blows a drunkard up at once, 

When the lire takes life's magazine. 

4 

An apoplexy kills as sure 

As cannon ball; and oft as soon; 

And will no more yield to a cure, 

Than murdering chain-shot from a gun. 

5 

Why should men dread a cannon bore, 

Yet boldly face a pottle pot ? 
That may fall short, shoot wide, or o'er, 

But drinking is the surer shot, 


How many fools about this town, 

Do quaff and laugh away their time ? 
And nightly knock each other down, 

Willi Claret clubs of no-grape wine! 



216 CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

7 
Until a dart from Death's full quiver, 

As Solomon describeth right, 
Does shoot his Tartar thro' the liver, 

Then (bonos nocios) sot, good night. 
8 
Good wine will kill, as well as bad, 

When drunk beyond our nature's bounds; 
Then wine gives life a mortal stab, 

And leaves her wetfring in her wounds. 



Such were the rules old Baynard gave 
To one with whom he could be free; 

Better you'll from no doctor have, 
Besides — they come without a fee. 



ANTI-ANACREONTIC. 

X. 
Say ! what are the pleasures which Wine can 

impart ? 
Can it pluck out the Arrows of Scorn from the 

heart ? 
Erase from the bosom the Image of Care ? 
Or furnish a balm for the Soul of Despair? 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 217 

All no ! 'tis a foul, 'tis a dangerous cheat, 
Which offers to view in the glass of deceit 
Oblivion of sorrow — but, cruel, conceals 
Those ages of misery the future reveals. 

'Tis a Creditor, who, for a moment's delay, 
Scores double the dreadful reckoning to pay ; 
Till the Debtor, poor fool ! luli'd to fatal repose, 
Is awak'd to a dungeon and life-lasting woes ! 



XI. 
THE DRINKIN', O. 

A Hang for the Ladies. 

BY JAMES HOGG. 
Tune: Dunbartori's Drums, 

1 

O wae to the wearifu' drinkin', O ! 
That foe to reflection an' thinkin', O ! 

O ur charms are gi'en in vain ! 

Social conversation's gane ! 
For the rattlin' o' guns an' the drinkin', O. 

2 
O why will you ply at the drinkin', O ? 
Which to weakness will soon lead youlinkin', O ; 
These eyes that shine sae bright 
Soon will be a weary sight, 
When ye're a' sittin' noddin' an' winkin', O ! 
u 



218 CONVIVIAL SONGS. 

3 

For ever may we grieve for the drinkin', O ! 
The respect that is due daily sinkin', O ! 

Our presence sair abus'd, 

An' our company refus'd, 
An' its a' for the wearifu' drinkin', O ! 

4 
O drive us not away wi' your drinkin', O ! 
We like your presence mair than ye're thinkin', 
O! 
We'll gie ye another sang, 
An' ye're no to think it lang, 
For the sake o' your wearifu' drinkin', O ! 

5 
Sweet delicacy, turn to us blinkin', O ! 
For by day the guns and swords still are clinkin', 
O! 
An' at night the flowin' bowl 
Bothers ilka manly soul, 

Then there's naething but beblin' an' drinkin', 
O! 

6 
Gentle Peace, come an' wean them frae drinkin', 

O! 
And bring love alang wi' you winkin', O ! 
Gar him thraw at ilka man, 
An' wound as deep's he can, 
Or we're ruin'd by the wearifu' drinkin', O ! 



CONVIVIAL SONGS. 219 

XII. 
WRITTEN FOR A CONVIVIAL SOCIETY, 

WHOSE MOTTO WAS 

« FRIENDSHIP, LOVE, and TRUTH." 

BY JAMES MONTGOMERY. 



1 

When " Friendship, Love, and Truth" abound 

Among a band of Brothers, 
The cup of joy goes gaily round, 
Each shares the bliss of others : 
Sweet roses grace the thorny way 

Along this vale of sorrow ; 
The flowers that shed their leaves to-day 

Shall bloom again to-morrow : 
How grand in age, how fair in youth, 
Are holy "Friendship, Love, and Truth!" 

2 
On Halcyon wings our moments pass, 

Life's cruel cares beguiling; 
Old Time lays down his scythe and glass, 

In gay good humour smiling : 
With ermine beard and forelock grey, 

His reverend front adorning, 
He looks like Winter turn'd to May, 

Night soften'd into morning! 
How grand in age, how fair in youth, 
Arc holy " Friendship, Love, and Truth!" 



220 CONVIVIAL SONGS, 



From these delightful fountains flow 

Ambrosial rills of pleasure : — 
Can man desire, can Heaven bestow, 

A more resplendent treasure ? 
Adorn'd with gems so richly bright, 

We'll form a Constellation, 
Where every Star, with modest light, 

Shall gild his proper station. 
How grand in age, how fair in youth, 
Are holy " Friendship, Love, andTiiuTHf * 



221 
LETTER V. 

ON AMATORY SONGS, 



Sept. 12, 1810. 
SIR, 

JLiovE maybe considered an universal passion: 
and perhaps it is that, concerning the due re- 
gulation of which, so far as relates to the 
sexes, mankind have run into the greatest 
errors. As in all cases, where man is liable to 
err, it is useful frequently to have recourse to 
first principles, so on no subject can it be more 
necessary than upon this. When man was 
created and endowed with a nature more perfect 
than that which we now possess, and with the 
whole creation subject to him for his use, his 
instruction and his amusement, God expressly 
declared that u it was not good that the man 
should be alone," and that he would " make 
him an help meet for him" ; (Genesis II. 18.) 
he therefore made woman, and declared that 
they should u be one", and that for her sake 
man should, whenever he entered into an union 
with her, " leave his father and his mother, 
u 2 



222 LETTER V. 

and cleave unto his wife" : (v. 24. see also 
Matt. xix. 4, 5.) and accordingly, in after 
times, we find the ordinances of God directed 
to keep this union inviolable, and to preserve 
and direct it to its proper ends. This being 
the state, then, for which the Creator originally 
intended man, and which is therefore the best 
and the happiest which he can enjoy in this 
world,* it is that, to which he, or those whose 
business it is to protect and instruct him in his 
early years, should look forward as a matter of 
course; they should promote his attainment of 
it, and regulate his ideas concerning it. I 
conceive, therefore, that it is the duty of parents 
to consider, that, when their children arrive at a 
certain age, they will wish, and it will be 
proper for them, to enter into the marriage state, 
and that it is the business of those who have 
been the authors of their existence in this world, 
to provide for them accordingly, or to put them 



* Believe me man, there is no greater blisse, 

Than is the quiet joy of loving wife; 
"Which who-so wants, halfe of himselfe doth raisse. 
Friend without change, play-fellow without strife, 

Food without fulnesse, counsell without pride, 
Is this sweet doubling of our single life. 

Sir Philip Sidney's Jhcavia. Lib, 3. folio 1638. p. 401. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 223 

in a way of providing for themselves. The 
child of the peasant, when he has arrived at his 
strength, and is able to earn his weekly wages 
by his labour, has a provision whereon he may 
marry ; and here I conceive, that, according to 
the present manners and opinions of the world, 
the poor man has a decided and important 
advantage over the rich man, both as it affects 
his happiness in this world, and in some measure 
his everlasting happiness in another. A young 
man in the higher ranks of life frequently finds 
many and great impediments to an early mar- 
riage, I mean to marriage at that time when 
nature and reason would direct him to chuse a 
partner for life. How frequently do we see 
parents with ample fortunes reserving it, rather 
than giving a part to establish their children in 
life; and, where they have no fortune, not 
taking any measures to put them into a way of 
procuring a maintenance for themselves; and, 
even where the children would do this, and be 
contented in a humble walk in life, the parents, 
either from an undue estimate of life, or from 
pride, dissuading them, and even preventing 
their following their rational inclinations. Half 
the wants in society are not respecting those 
things which really contribute to a person's 
happiness, but perhaps the contrary; and are 



224 LETTER V. 

merely artificial cravings to keep up an appear- 
ance and satisfy the world around him.* 

I conceive it, therefore, Sir, to be the duty 
of the moralist to do his utmost to maintain in 
the world proper ideas of woman, of marriage, 
of love, and of connubial happiness, and that 
every thing which at all tends to give persons im- 
proper ideas upon these subjects and to diminish 
their respect for them, is an offence in society 
and against the will and laws of the Creator. 
From several of your writings, Sir, I suppose 
these to be nearly your own sentiments, like- 
wise : and I shall do in this case, as I have done 
in the former instances ; first state your opinions, 
as I find them expressed in your more serious 
and more valuable works, and then consider 
how far the sentiments contained in the songs in 
this class are likely to second or to militate 
against your principles. 

In one of your earliest publications, Mis- 
cellaneous Pieces in Prose, by J. and 
A. L. Aikin. 1773. In the Critique On The 
Heroic Poem of Gondibert, speaking of the 
armies of the Prince and the Duke, you say, 



* There are some very good remarks upon this subject in 
Ingram's Disquisitions on Population in answer to Mr. 
Malthus's Essay on Population, p. 74 — 79- 



©J* AMATOIttf SONGS. 225 

st That of Gondibert was composed of hardy 
youth whom he had selected from his father's 
camp, and educated in martial discipline under 
his own inspection. Temperance, chastity, 
vigilance, humanity, and all the high virtues of 
chivalry remarkably distinguish these young 
soldiers from those of later times. Beauty, in- 
deed, commanded no less regard amongst them 
than in a modern camp ; but it was an object of 
passion, and not of appetite ; and was the pow~ 
erful engine in their education, which inspired 
Ihem with noble and exalted sentiments." 
(P. 162.) You afterwards say of Love, " the 
influence of this passion in its purest and most 
exalted state, during the course of education, is 
a subject that might, perhaps, shine as much in 
the hands of a moralist as of a poet." (P. 164.) 
In the first volume of your Letters to your 
Son, there is one On the choice of a Wife. 
(L. xxix.) You begin it with saying, u There is 
no species of advice which seems to come with 
more peculiar propriety from parents to chil- 
dren, than that which respects the marriage 
state ; for it is a matter in which the first must 
have acquired some experience, and the last 
cannot." (P. 330.) You speak of " the ne- 
glect with which admonitions on this head are 
treated," as being " not unfrequently owing to 



226 LETTER V. 

the manner in which they are given, which is 
often too general, too formal, and with too little 
accommodation to the feelings of young per- 
sons." (13o.) u The difference of opinion 
between sons and fathers in the matrimonial 
choice may be stated in a single position — that 
the former have in their minds the first month of 
marriage, the latter, the whole of its duration." 
(P. 331.) " I need say little as to the share that 
personal charms ought to have in fixing a choice 
of this kind. While I readily admit, that it is 
desirable, that the object on which the eyes are 
most frequently to dwell for a whole life, should 
be an agreeable one ; you will probably as freely 
acknowledge, that more than this is of too fan- 
ciful and fugitive a nature to come into the com- 
putation of permanent enjoyment." (P. 332.) 
You state that " the two main points on which 
the happiness to be expected from a female 
associate in this life must depend" — are, " her 
qualifications as a companion, and as a helper ;" 
(Do.) You represent a wife as " the domestic 
companion of the voyage of life — the intimate 
of all hours — the partaker- of all fortunes — the 
sharer in pain and pleasure — the mother and 
instructress of your offspring." And say, " Are 
you not struck with a sense of the infinite con- 
sequence it must be of to you, what are the 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 227 

qualities of the heart and understanding of one 
who stands in this relation; and of the com- 
parative insignificance of external charms and 
ornamental accomplishments ?" (P. 333. )-^- 
61 tastes, manners, and opinions, being things 
not original, but acquired, cannot be of so much 
consequence as the fundamental properties of 
good sense and good temper." (P. 334.) — To 
these I should add a strong religious principle. — 
When " a kind of thoughtless good nature" — 
w appears with the attractions of youth and 
beauty, there is some danger lest even men of 
sense should overlook the defects of a shallow 
capacity, especially if they have entertained 
the too common notion, that women are no better 
than playthings, designed rather for the amuse- 
ment of their lords and masters, than for" the 
more serious purposes of life." (P. 335.) — 
" The original purpose for winch this sex was 
created, is said, you know, to have been, pro- 
viding man with a help-mate ; yet it is, perhaps, 
that notion of a wife which least occupies the 
imagination in the season of courtship." 
(P. 337.) — " Romantic ideas of domestic feli- 
city will infallibly in time give way to that true 
state of things, which will show that a large 
part of it must arise from well ordered affairs, 
and an accumulation of petty comforts and con- 



228 LETTER V. 

veniencies. A clean and quiet fire-side, regu- 
lar and agreeable meals, decent apparel, a house 
managed with order and economy, ready for 
the reception of a friend or the accommodation 
of a stranger, a skilful as well as affectionate 
nurse in time of sickness— all these compose a 
very considerable part of what the nuptial state 
was intended to afford us ; and without them, 
no charms of person or understanding will long 
continue to bestow delight." (Do.) — " I confess 
myself decidedly of the opinion of those who 
would rather form the two sexes to a resemblance 
of character, than contrast them. Virtue, wis- 
dom, presence of mind, patience, vigour, capa- 
city, application, are not sexual qualities ; they 
belong to mankind — to all who have duties to 
perform and evils to endure." (P. 340.) "Hav- 
ing thus endeavoured to give you just ideas of 
the principal requisites in a wife, especially in 
a wife for one in your condition, I have done all* 
that lies within the compass of an adviser. 
From the influence of passion I cannot guard 
you : I can only deprecate its power. It may 
be more to the purpose to dissuade you from 
hasty engagements, because in making them, a 
person of any resolution is not to be regarded as 
merely passive. Though the head has lost its 
rule over the heart, it may retain its command 



ON AMATORY SONGS. %W 

of the hand. And surely if we are to pause 
before any action, it should be before one on 
which " all the colour of remaining life" de- 
pends. Your reason must be convinced, that 
to form a solid judgment of so many qualities 
as are requisite in the conjugal union, is no 
affair of days and weeks, of casual visits or 
public exhibitions. Study your object at 
home — see her tried in her proper department. 
Let the progress be, liking, approving, loving, 
and lastly, declaring ; and may you, after the 
experience of as many years as I have had, be 
as happily convinced, that a choice so formed 
is not likely to deceive ! " P. 34 i . 

In the second volume of your Letters to your 
Son, in the Letter (xv) On the advantages of a 
taste for poetry, you say, v " The enemies of 
poetry have brought a more serious charge 
against it, from the topics in "which it is con- 
versant, many of which are calculated to inflame 
the passions and vitiate the morals. Passion, it 
must be allowed, is one of the grand and inte- 
resting displays of nature on which poets have 
ever delighted to exercise their descriptive 
powers ; but they have for the most part painted 
it in such colours as to render its excesses an 
object of horror rather than of admiration. 
With respect to one, however, that of love, I 
x 



230 LETTER T. 

confess they have in general been too indulgent. 
Poetry may with still more propriety than music 
be termed " the food of love;" and whatever 
censure it may deserve on that account, it must 
be content to bear. Poems, as well as novels, it 
is true, are filled with the baneful consequences 
of this passion, which may be taken for a 
warning, if the reader be so disposed. But it is 
commonly so allied with heroism in one sex, and 
sentiment in the other, that its errors are excused, 
if not applauded." P. 273. 

Mrs. Barbauld, in her Thoughts on the De- 
votional Taste, says, " It will not be amiss to 
mention here, a reproach which has been cast 
upon devotional writers, that they are apt to ran 
into the language of love. Perhaps the charge 
would be full as just, had they said that Love 
borrows the language of Devotion; for the 
votaries of that passion are fond of using those 
exaggerated expressions, which can suit nothing 
below divinity ; and you can hardly address the 
greatest of all Beings in a strain of more pro- 
found adoration than the lover uses to the object 
of his attachment." P. 23. 

In your Letters on Poetry, addressed to a 
Young Lady, (L. I. p. 3.) you say, " There 
is one particular topic, however, concerning 
which I feel a degree of hesitation. Poetry 
Jias in all ages and countries been the servant 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 231 

and interpreter of love : from that passion it has 
received some of its most rapturous inspiration, 
and to its interests has devoted its choicest pow- 
ers. The strains of love are not only occasion- 
ally met with in the works of the poets : they are 
the animating soul of many, and are intimately 
blended with almost all." And afterwards ; 
u it is probable that the refinement and elevation 
of sentiment fostered by a taste for poetry may 
prove a protection from that light and vulgar 
passion which enters merely at the eyes, and is 
too sensual to be disgusted with coarseness and 
stupidity. Since, then, it it impossible to sepa- 
rate love from poetry, I shall not fear to recom- 
mend it to your notice in its purest, most tender, 
and fanciful form." P. 4. 

In Letter II. speaking of Pope, you say 
(p. 13.) " The two " Choruses for the Tragedy 
of Brutus" which follow were intended to be set 
to music. They are probably too replete with 
thought for this purpose ; but this is no objection 
to them, considered as poems to be read. They 
are very elegant pieces; and the touching 
picture of connubial love in the second of them 
deserves great praise as a moral painting." 
Part of this is given in my third volume with 
some trifling alterations, p. 225. 

Letter iv. p. 31. speaking of Waller, you 



%M -LESTEtl f. ^ 

say, a I am apprehensive, however, (hat his 
gallantries may seem to you somewhat far- 
fetched, and his compliments over-strained, and 
that, for your part, you would prefer tenderness 
to deification. Love, in its highest tone, is, 
indeed, favourable to poetry, which scorns the 
limits of truth and nature, and in every thing 
affects hyperbole. But i-n such cases, the fancy 
is gratified at the expense of the feeling, and 
fiction occupies the place of reality. There are 
three topics which poets (and often the same 
poets) treat in a similar manner ; devotion, love, 
and loyalty : or rather, they apply to the two 
latter, expressions and sentiments borrowed 
from the former. Thus Waller, speaking of 
his Saccharissa; 

Scarce can I to Heaven excuse 
The devotion which I use 
Unto that adored dame, 
For 'tis not unlike the same 
Which I thither ought to send." 

Letter vii. p. 82. Speaking of Pope's Epistle 
of Eloisa to Abelard, as I have before noticed 
(p. 18.) you say that, it " is faulty in giving too 
forcible an expression to sentiments inconsistent 
with female purity".* 

* The British Critic for April 1805. Vol. xxv. p. 411. 
speaking of Dr. A.'s Letters on Poetry, and what he has said on 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 233 

I have also, (p. 43.) noticed your reference 
to the beautiful picture of connubial love in 
Hammond's thirteenth Elegy. 

Letter ix. p. 121. Speaking of the Comus of 
Milton, you say u As a recompense for the 
humiliation you may have felt on viewing the 
female Character as pourtrayed by Pope and 
Swift, you may justly pride yourself on the 
lustre thrown around it in its virgin purity, by 
this superior genius." — " No one can peruse 
this piece without being sensible of an elevation 
of soul which, for a time, lifts it above the 
allurements of sensuality, and sanctifies all its 
emotions." P. 12^1. 

Letter xvii. p. 233. On Cowley, yon say 
" The set of poems connected by the title of 
" The Mistress," though termed u love verses," 
have as little real love in them as if they were 
written on a system of logic. Tiiey are, in fact, 
exercises of wit upon certain given topics, which 
might have been composed by an academic or 
monk in a cloyster, who had never known the 
fair sex but from books. They are not proper 
to be presented to a young lady in the mass". 

Letter xviii. p. 258. You say " The poems 



this poem, says that he has " too far palliated the immorality 
of a most seductive poem". 

x 2 



234 LETTER V. 

of Lord Lyttelton may be recommended io 
you, as certain to afford some pleasure, and free 
from every thing that can offend." — u He ap- 
pears to have felt the tender passion with equal 
ardour and purity, and to have fulfilled every 
duty both of a lover and a husband." — u I 
must, however, enter a protest against the fol- 
lowing maxim : 

One only care your gentle breasts should move, 
Th' important business of your life is love. 

Unless love be here used in the extended sense of 
all the charities of life, all that is endearing and 
attaching in human society, I should say that he 
degrades the female character by his limi- 
tation." P. 260. 

In concluding these quotations, I must not 
neglect to recall your attention to your praise of 
Shenstone's Pastoral Ballad in four Parts, where 
you say that it K has given much pleasure to all 
who were capable of entering into the delicacies 
of the soft passion in its purest form." (Essay 
pn Song-writing. P. xxviii. and p. 5. of this 
Volume.) 

To proceed, then, Sir, to the consideration of 
the Songs themselves. 

The first (p. 70.) is Ambrose Phillips' trans- 
lation from Sappho, " Blest as th' immortal 
Gods is he," to which I object, both as it is 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 235 

heathen y and as it compares the happiness of a 
mere mortal lover to that of immortals. And 
the conclusion introduces death with levity, as 
the effect of love. (See before 53.) I shall not 
make any farther objection against the Song, but 
I certainly should not have thought it, merely 
for the sake of a smooth versification, deserving 
a place in a Collection. 

Much the same may be said of the next, 
(p. 71.) 

, " Thy fatal shafts unerring move, 
I bow before thy altar, Love j" 

The bowing before the altar of love is idolatry. 
Cowper, in his Poem on Charity, acknow- 
ledges how wrong it is to worship or give divine 
praise to any object below the Deity himself: 

Oh, could I worship aught beneath the skies 

That earth hath seen, or fancy can devise, 

Thine altar, sacred liberty, should stand, 

Built, by no mercenary vulgar hand, 

With fragrant turf, and flow'rsas wild and fair 

As ever dress'd a bank, or scented summer air ! 

Duly, as ever on the mountain's height 

The peep of morning shed a dawning light, 

Again, when ev'ning in her sober vest 

Drew the gray curtain of the fading west, 

My soul should yield thee willing thanks and praise 

For the chief blessings of my fairest days : 

But that were sacrilege — praise is not thine, 

But his who gave thee, and preserves thee mine. 

L. 254. 

Yet even in this passage, the writer appears to 



236 LETTER V. 

me to go too far. He seems to acknowledge the 
willingness of his soul to render thanks and praise 
to Liberty, but for the prohibition; and the 
describing the altar and mode of worship, both 
in these and the following lines, with so much 
minuteness, is dwelling upon the subject, and 
that with so much delight, as looks like a 
proneness to it, which I should be sorry to 
encourage in my own mind. 

I find another Poet going, as I conceive, a 
step beyond Cowper : 

Build me a shrine, and I could kneel 

To Rural Gods, or prostrate fall ; 
Did I not see, did I not feel, 

That one Great Spirit governs all. 
O heav'n permit that I may lie 

Where o'er my corse green branches wave; 
And those who from life's tumult fly 

With kindred feelings press my grave. 
Wild Flowers by Robert Bloomfield, p. 91. 

In the last verse of this song, 

Condemu'd to nurse eternal care, 
And ever drop the silent tear, 

seems to savour of fatalism. 

In " Ah! the shepherd's mournful fate!" 
(p. 72.) the Lover's mistress has a form so 
heavenly fair, and he determines to pursue her 
with hope till death, and 

Then, when my tedious hours are past, 
Be this last blessing given, 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 237 

Lovt at thy feet to breathe my last, 
And die in sight of heaven. 

The calling bis mistress heaven I consider as 
profane. . 

in " Go, tell Amynta", (p. 74.) we have 
"the Gods ordain'd" ! 

In u Yes, fairest proof of beauty's power," 
(p. 75.) the lady is called " dear idol", and 
the lover says, 

That nothing may disturb thy life, 
Content I hasten to the dead. 

In the song which begins with " On every 
Jiill, in every grove," (p. 76.) the lady, who 
cannot find Damon, says " All nature does my 
loss deplore." 

The Lover, in " Why, Delia, ever while I 
gaze", (p. 78.) says, 

When drooping on the bed of pain, 

I look'd on ev'ry hope as vain; 

When pitying friends stood weeping by, 

And death's pale shade seem'd hovering nigh, 

No terror could my flame remove, 

Or steal a thought from her I love. 

This does not appear to me to be a proper 
picture of a death-bed, where the dying man 
has certainly a more natural and serious occu- 
pation for the chief of his thoughts, though the 
love of one whom he had hoped to make the 



238 LETTER Y. 

chaste partner of his life may be allowed a 
share in them. 

In " While from my looks, fair nymph, you 
guess", (p. 79.) the nymph is styled a pro- 
phetess. 

We have next (p> 80.) the celebrated Song 
by Lord Lyttelton, " The heavy hours are 
almost past That part my love and me"* 
The first four verses of this are certainly very 
beautiful. In the sixth Venus is introduced as 
an agent in controuling human aifairs, and a 
prayer is made to her : 

All I of Venus ask is this, 

No more to let us join : 
But grant me here the flatt'ring bliss, 

To die and think you mine. 

The pious author of the " Observations on the 
Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul" 
appears somewhat inconsistent with himself, 
when he places a heathen deity in this conspi- 
cuous light, and makes the subject of his Song 
supplicate her as if she had " the power that 
belongeth unto God". (Psalm lxii. 11.) 

The next Song (p. 81.) is by Prior, 

If wine and music have the power 
To ease the sickness of the soul, 
- Let Phoebus every string explore, 
And Bacchus fill the sprightly bowl. 

That music was given us to cheer and delight, 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 239 

as well as to assist us in praising our Great 
Creator, is very true : but we are not indebted 
to Phoebus for it. And that wine was given to 
w make glad the heart of man", (Psalm civ. 15.) 
I am also ready to acknowledge ; but, neither, 
are we indebted to Bacchus for that.-— The 
Poet concludes with a prayer to Venus : 

Kind goddess, to no other powers 
Let us to-morrow's blessings own* 

The darling Loves shall guide the hours, 
And all the day be thine alone. 

Surely, Sir, he who considers the One true 
God, as " the giver of all good" and prays to 
him for his " daily bread", that is, as we ex- 
plain it in the Church Catechism, u all things 
that be needful both for our souls and bodies", 
could never write or consider this with com- 
placency. And, though the writing, the pub- 
lishing, and the praising of such compositions, 
cannot literally constitute a " priest of Bacchus" 
(see Essay, p. xxx and xlviii. and p. 189. of 
this Volume.) or of Venus, yet they form 
(in effect) a pretty strong resemblance to the 
administering at the altars of those imaginary 
and disgraceful divinities. 

In, " When Delia on the plain appears", by 
Lord Lyttelton, (p. 84.) he says, v. 3. 

If she some other swain commend, 
Tho' I was once his fondest friend, 
His instant enemy I proves — 



210 LETTER V. 

The holding some other swain as his enemy, 
because she commends him, I conceive to be 
un- christian. The same objection I should 
make to the expression, " I hate the maid that 
gives me pain", in the song beginning, " Ah ! 
why must words my flame reveal?" (p. 85.) 
The description in this song is beautiful, but I 
see no useful lesson to be learnt from it. 

I feel reluctance at being obliged to find any 
fault with the next, (p. 87.) " Come here, fond 
youth, whoe'er thou be" ! But there appears 
to me to be a strain of extravagance run through 
it quite inconsistent with the passages I have 
quoted in a former part of this letter, and espe- 
cially that from Mrs. Barbauld's Thoughts on the 
Devotional Taste, p. 230. The poet says 
that to love is u To live upon a smile for years, 
To lie whole ages at a beauty's feet", — " to 
kneel," to adore — to hope " Tho' heaven and 
earth thy passion crost". In verse 5 ground- 
less jealousy is made necessary to prove love. 

In the last verse of " You tell me that you 
truly love," (p. 89.) the poet says, 

And tell me, at her loss or hate, 

Would death your only refuge prove ? 

Ah ! if in aught you hesitate, 

Coward ! you dare not say you love. 

This is making too light of death, and too much 
of love ; or, if the words point to a death pur- 



ON AMATOftY SONGS. 241 

posely inflicted by suicide, they are more 
highly reprehensible. 

In " Hard is the fate of him who loves'*, 
(p. 90.) by Thomson, there is an address to the 
u gentle spirits of the vale" to u waft a gale", 
and to u tell her" ; the soul of the beloved object 
is called spotless ; and the lover says of h is love 
to his mistress, that " Not her own guardian 
angel eyes" — " his care" — " with chaster ten- 
derness" : this is surely saying too much. 

The Song beginning " The tears I shed must 
ever fall", (p. 92.) I inserted in the second 
volume of my Collection: but it is, perhaps, 
the picture of a mind giving way too much to 
despair. 

The Song beginning i( If ever thou didst joy 
to bind", (p. 94.) is a prayer to Cupid, the Son 
of Venus. There is mention made, likewise, 
of " the leaves of Fate", and the lover says 
" I'll absolve the fates". But his last request to 
Cupid is rather singular, he prays that if his 
" aid be vain", lie will " grant" that he may 
" love on, when every gleam of hope is gone", 
and that he will " never grant a cure." There 
is a passage, Sir, in your Letters on Poetry 
(L. vi. p. 67.) to the sentiments of which I so 
fully agree, and which appears to me to cast so 
just a censure on Songs like the present, and 



242 LETTER V. 

many others in your Selection, that I cannot 
forbear quoting it on this occasion. Speaking 
of Swift and his Poems to Stella, you say, 
" His exposure of her defects, too, may seem 
much too free for a lover, or even a husband ; 
and it is easy to conceive that Stella's temper 
was fully tried in the connection. Yet a woman 
might be proud of the serious approbation of 
such a man, which he expresses in language 
evidently coming from the heart. They are, 
indeed, 

Without one word of Cupid's darts, 
Of killing eyes and bleeding hearts ; 

but they contain topics of praise which outlive 
the short season of youth and beauty. How 
much superior to frivolous gallantry is the 
applause testified in lines like these ! 

Say, Stella, feel you no content 

Reflecting on a life well 6pent ? 

Your skilful hand employ'd to save 

Despairing wretches from the grave, 

And then supporting with your store 

Those whom you dragg'd from death before ? 

Your generous boldness to defend 

An innocent and absent friend ; 

That courage which can make you just 

To merit humbled in the dust ; 

The detestation you express 

For vice in all its glittering dress ; 

That patience under tort'ring pain 

Where stubborn stoics would complain ?"* 

* These lines would make a verj beautiful Glee. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 243 

In (he Song M As near a weeping spring 
reclined," (p. 95.) Araminta is represented as 
mourning for " a false ungrateful youth", 
when " An aged shepherd", — " in pity's 
kindest tone", by way of giving her salutary 
advice, says, 

In beauty's empire is no mean, 
And woman, either slave or queen, 
Is quickly scorn'd when not adored. 

and afterwards adds, 

For hearts o'ercome with love and grief 
All nature yields but one relief £ 
Die, hapless Araminta, die." 

On dying for love I have spoken so often before 
as to render any farther comment in this place 
unnecessary. 

In the Song, " Sweet maid, I hear thy fre- 
quent sigh," (p. 97.) the burden of which is 
" I sigh for him who lives no more", it would 
have been better for the supposed writer of it 
to have followed the example of David on the 
death of his child ; although it created a sur- 
prise in his servants, who said to him : " What 
thine: is this that thou hast done ? thou didst fast 
and weep for the child while it was alive ; but 
when the child was dead, thou didst rise and 
eat bread. And he said, While the child was 
yet alive, I fasted and wept : for I said, Who 



244 LETTER V. 

can tell whether God will be gracious to me, 
that the child may live ? Bat now he is dead, 
wherefore should I fast ? can I bring him back 
again? 1 shall go to him, but he shall not 
return to me". (2 Samuel xii. 21 — 23.) 

In the next Song, " Dried be that tear, my 
gentlest love," (p. 98.) mention is made of 
Fate in the first verse, and the lover in the con- 
clusion says to his mistress, " Nor let us lose 
our heaven here !" an expression, which, thus 
introduced, I conceive to be, in the most favour- 
able interpretation, too worldly a sentiment. 

The sentiment in the last verse of the next, 
" Ah ! tell me not that jealous fear" (p. 99.) I 
consider as going too far. 

In u Too plain, dear youth, these tell-tale 
eyes" (p. 100.) the expression u for heaven's 
sake", in the first verse, is lightly introduced. 
And the lady's appeal to her lover lest her 
virtue should prove too weak, though it may be 
in some measure a lesson to men, does not shew 
a very " spotless" mind, nor a strong sense of 
the duty of chastity : 

Press not for what T must deny, 
For fear I should obey. 

Resolve not then to do an ill, 
Because, perhaps, you may. 

'tis a task for me too hard 
To strive with love and you. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 245 

The like may be said of the song (p. 102.) 
" Strephon/when you see me fly". The lady 
confesses " with ease you may deceive me", 
and also says 

Heaven decrees that we should part ; 
That has ray vows, but you my heart. 

The Song to Cupid, on Valentine's day, 
(p. 105.) is another specimen of heathenism. 
Britons are represented as adoring his power. 
And the sentiment, 

Love alone can pleasure give, 
Only while we love, we live, 

either requires the " protest," or the " extended 
sense", which you have given to a similar one 
by Lord Lyttelton, in your Letters on poetry 
before quoted. See p. 234. 

The next is translated from Catullus by Dr. 
Lan<rhorn. P. 106. 



j » j 



Lesbia, live to love and pleasure, 
Careless what the grave may say : 

"When each moment is a treasure, 
Why should lovers lose a day ? 

The " love and pleasure" here mentioned I 
suppose to be unlawful, else " the grave" would 
not say any thing against it. 

Setting suns shall rise in glory; 

But when little life is o'er, 
There's an end of all the story; 

We shall sleep, to wake no more. 

y 2 



246 LETTER V. 

I consider this Song as very profligate, and 
the more so as being written by a clergyman. 

Lord Chesterfield is the next author who 
appears, and in his Song, " When Fanny, 
blooming fair," (p. 107.) has given us a com- 
pound of Loves, Cupid, Jove and Venus, and 
the whole turn of it is highly voluptuous, totally 
improper to publish, and discreditable to write. 

The next Song, Sir, (p. 108.) you inform us 
" is designed as a contrast to an address to 
Wisdom." Wisdom, we are told on Divine 
authority, " is more precious than rubies, and all 
the things thou cans't desire are not to be com- 
pared unto her. Length of days is in her right 
hand, and in her left hand riches and honour. 
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her 
paths are peace." (Prov, iii. 15 — 17.) But 
here the author says of the person whom he 
calls " my Goddess, earthly born", that she is 

Stranger to all the wise explore, 

She proves all far-sought knowledge vaio. 

We have next something bordering upon 
indelicate respecting Venus and the Tritons. 
The following verse betrays either an ignorance 
of -that pure state of our first parents, in which 
blushing had no place, or a despicable sneer 
against it. See Genesis ii, 25. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 247 

And unaccomplished all as Eve 

In the first morning of her life, 
When Adam blush'd, and ask'd her leave 

To take her hand and call her wife. 

The Song has, throughout, a tone of profligacy 
and indecent insinuation, with an attempt to 
cast ridicule on things serious and sacred. 

In the Song, " Ah ! tell me no more, my dear 
girl, with a sigh," (p. 112.) we have " damsel 
divine" ; and in the next, " 'Tis not the liquid 
brightness of those eyes", we have the ex- 
pression " form divine". The word divine is 
become so common as denoting what is only 
excellent in a high degree, that I should be 
desirous to leave it without criticism, as a word 
which had departed from its etymology and 
acquired a new sense. But the fact is, that we 
still use it in its original sense, we apply it to 
God and sacred things. On this account I 
cannot help thinking that such use of it in 
amatory songs as we frequently find, — the appli- 
cation of it to a frail human being, — is ob- 
jectionable. A mind duly impressed with the 
original sense of this word, would not, I think, 
(unless from some strong habit) go repeatedly 
backward and forward from one sense to the 
other, without some feeling of discord. Other 
objections might be made to this Song. 



LETTER V. 

Of the two next Songs, " While Strephon, 
thus youteaze one", (p. 114.) and " The shape 
alone let others prize," (p. 115.) it may be said, 
that if they have not any thing very good in 
them, they are not greatly deserving of censure ; 
the phrase angel innocence in the latter is too 
strong. On this subject see before, Letter ii. 
p. 63. 

In the third Volume of my Collection of 
Songs, p. 192. is a song by Mozeen, upon this 
subject, and which forms a proper answer to 
this and similar passages. It begins, 

To reason, ye fair ones, assert your pretence, 
Nor hearken to language beneath Common Sense : 
When angels men call ye, and homage would pay, 
If you credit the tale, you're as faulty as they. &c. 

The Song " Wouldst thou know her sa- 
cred charms", (p. 117.) is given in the second 
volume of my Collection, with the single 
alteration of the word lovely for sacred in the 
first line. 

In the next " Hail to the myrtle shade," 
(p. 119.) it is said of Phyllis that " Nature 
hath made her divine". This song is in other 
respects exceptionable. 

The least that can be said of the next, " Tell 
me no more how fair she is", (p. 120.) is, tljat 
k is extravagant. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 249 

" While in the bower with beauty blest", 
(p. 122.) is too voluptuous. 

In Smollet's Song, u When Sappho tun'd the 
raptur'd strain," (p. 123.) I shall object to 
nothing but her " art" being called " divine", 
the sentiment of it is in favour of chastity and 
" artless truth". 

" When charming Teraminta sings" (p. 126.) 
is too highly coloured. 

" My dear mistress has a heart", (p. 127.) 
is by Rochester, who at his death lamented his 
profligate life, and his profane and indecent 
writings, which were so much calculated to 
corrupt mankind.* Here it is said of his 
mistress, 

her constancy's so weak, 

She's so wild and apt to wander, 
That my jealous heart would break 

Should we live one day asunder. 

Yet he afterwards says of her, M Angels listen 
when she speaks," I suppose he means with 
complacency, as he adds " She's my delight, 
all mankind's wonder". 

"Let the ambitious favour find", (p. 128.) 
is indecently voluptuous, besides the romantic 



* See his Life by Bishop Burnet, and the SermoE preached 
at his funeral by Parsons. 



250 LETTER V. 

extravagance of the line " Whilst I lie dying at 
her feet." 

In the next, (p. 128.) 

" Come, let us*now resolve at last 
To live and love in quiet )" 

we are told that 

44 The truest joys they seldom prove 
Who free from quarrels live; 

a very false sentiment ! 

" From all uneasy passions free," (p. 129.) 
like several of the Songs preceding, is charge- 
able with being sensual. 

In " Oft on the troubled ocean's face", 
(p. ISO.) the sentiment in the last verse requires 
some limitation and explanation : 

in fond and amorous souls 

If tyrant love once reigns, 
There oneeternal tempest rolls, 

And yields unceasing pains. 

" Prepar'd to rail, resolv'd to part," (p. 131 .) 
I must cease to notice such expressions as 
" form divine" (see before p. 247.) every time 
I meet them. 

In thenext " Come, all ye youths whose hearts 
e'er bled" (p. 131.) a " tempting fair",— " very 
lovely" and " very kind", and abounding in 
snares, isrepresented as being " brightas heaven". 



OSL AMATORY SONGS. 251 

In the Song, p. 134. a nymph wishes the 
" echoes" to " Tell my Strephon that I 
die", but afterwards she desires them to " be 
dumb, 

For, should I cost my swain a tear, 
I should repent it in my tomb, 

And grieve I bought my rest so dear." 

In the third line of this verse she affirms that for 
which she cannot possibly answer: the last line 
I do not understand, it appears to me to be 
nonsense. 

In the Song from The Conscious Lovers, 
(p. 134.) " From place to place, forlorn, I go", 
by Sir R, Steel, what constitutes one of its 
merits with you, Sir, is the ground of my ob- 
jection. The lady compares herself to 

w a sileut shade," 
14 To speak, till spoken to, afraid." 

you say " This is a very ingenious allusion to 
the popular notion that ghosts are not permitted 
to speak till first addressed by the beholder." 
See before Letter ii. p. 59. 

In the second verse of the celebrated Song" in 
The Stranger, (p. 135.) " I have a silent sorrow 
here," the supposed writer talks of her " che- 
risht woe", her " loved despair", as if there 
was no blame in encouraging such passions. 



252 LETTER V. 

And, in the last verse she puts the pardon of her 
husband before that of Heaven. 

I shall not raise my eyes to heaven, 

Nor mercy ask for me ; 
My soul despairs to be forgiven, 

Unpardoned, love! by thee. 

In the next song, " There is one dark and 
silent hour", (p. 136.) " fate decrees" and 
u Almighty power", are mentioned. Whether 
fate is the Almighty power does not exactly 
appear, but, in any light, the expression, or 
the mixture, is reprehensible. 

In the song " Can loving father ever prove", 
(p. 137.) a dutiful and aifectionate daughter 
mentions the feelings she has towards her father 
and mother, and says, 

But still, I own with conscious shame, 
'Tis mine to love a dearer name. 

She adds, 

Oh, Henry, say, my only pride! 
Should tender hearts like these divide? 
Sure righteous heaven can ne'er approve! 
Sure mine it calls unhallow'd love! 

Now, if her love was pure, and there is no 
reason to think the contrary, there was not ne- 
cessarily any shame in her loving another dearer 
than them : "A man shall leave his father and 
his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife". 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 25$ 

(Genesis II. 24. and Matt. xix. 5.) And 
indeed, in the conclusion, she expresses no 
doubt of the rectitude of making a choice, if 
sanctioned by her parents. 

Yet would the soft paternal voice 
Confirm and sanctify my choice, 
Bid me my best affection give 
To him for whom indeed I live — 
' Than father— mother — dearer name 

Nor heart could wish, nor tongue could frame. 

She had said before of her love for her mother. 

Saints above 
Feel not the fervour of my love. 

By which I suppose she means that the love of 
saints in heaven to God, or to each other, is not 
equal to her's for her mother. This is going 
too far. 

In " Fair, and soft, and gay, and young," 
(p. 138.) the lover says of his love, 

Like heaven's, too mighty to express, 
My joys could but be known by guess ! 

this is profane, and what he says about his 
mistress being " made for one", and then that 
she is " faithless" and " not made for one" is 
a picture of so serious a crime as faithlessness, 
drawn with levity, and mixed with indecent 
insinuation. 

In u Tho' cruel you seem to my pain," 
(p. 139.) Phyllis, who is not married, loves a 
z 



254 LETTER V. 

false swain, who has other nymphs in his view: 
the other lover, the writer of the song, says, 

Enjoyment's a trifle to him, 
To me what a heaven 't would be! 

To him but a woman you seem, 
But, ah ! you're an angel to me. 

Too much is expressed in the remainder of the 
song. 

In " Ye shepherds and nymphs that adorn 
the gay plain, " (p. 140.) we have a swain 
dying for love. 

" Ye happy swains, whose hearts are free'*, 
(p. 142.) are advised to avoid love, and to 
" fly the fair sex 1 ', which, as general advice, 
I hold to be wrong and unnatural. 

" When your beauty appears", by Parnel, 
(p. 143.) is too light throughout, and especially 
in the idea about the angel and icoman in the 
last verse. 

The strain of the Song (p. 145.) is discre- 
ditable to true love, and to the human race : 

Can love be eontrol'd by advice? 

Can madness and reason aj;ree ? 
O Molli who'd ever be wise, 

If madness is loving of thee ? 

He afterwards says : " Dull wisdom but adds 
to our care", on which subject see before, 
p. 146. This Song is also of that species which 
perversely represents pleasure as the only or 
principal consequence to be drawn from the 
shortness of life. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. - 255 

The next Song (p. 146.) " Think no more, 
my gentle maid," signed J. A. besides the in- 
troducing Cupid, is, to my mind, much too 
warm and sensually descriptive in its expressions, 
particularly in the last four lines. 

" Why, cruel creature, why so bent", 
(p. 147.) is not on the whole a bad song; but 
the saying (verse 3) that " Kings are them- 
selves too poor" and " a thousand worlds too 
few" to pay the value of her " endless charms," 
is very extravagant. 

The next, " Forever, Fortune, wilt thou 
prove", (p. 148.) is a Prayer to Fortune^ and 
is therefore, I think, profane and idolatrous. 
The Ignorant (says Stanhope, in his Paraphrase 
and Comment on the Epistles and Gospels, 
Third Sunday after Easter, Vol. III. p. 38, 
Eighth Edit.) the u Ignorant li-ive called that 
the Tyranny and Blindness of Fortune, which 
Christians are taught to believe, is i he Disposition 
of an infinitely Wise, and Just, and Good 
Being." 

Respecting the merits of the next Song, Sir, 
Darby and Joan, " Dear Chloe, while thus 
beyond measure", (p. 149.) attributed to 
Prior, I intirely agree with you ; and only 
wonder, that, having a relish for such a portrait 
of humble Rfe,*(see before Letter II. p. SQ y &c.) 



256 Letter t. 



J 

i, and 



you can admire the extravagant rants, 
forced and false sentiments which prevail in the 
generality of Songs in your Collection. This is 
given in the first of my volumes. 

The Song " Away! let nought to love dis- 
pleasing," (p. 151.) is given in the second 
Yolume of my Collection, but with the four last 
lines altered. I thought the sentiment contained 
in them too poor for so worthy a character. 

" O Nancy, wilt thou go with me," (p. 152.) 
is a beautiful picture of chaste and disinterested 
love. That likewise is in my second volume. 

" In vain, fond youth, thy tears give o'er", 
(p. 154.) In this song the lady says, " Should 
heaven and earth with thee combine, 'Twere all 
in vain". 

I feel an unwillingness to notice the Song 
beginning u The wretch O never let me know" 
p. 155. as it is in some respects both beautiful 
and morally good. But nothing is hinted of 
Colin being the husband of the woman, but 
rather otherwise. There is frequently an ob- 
scurity or ambiguity in amatory songs whether 
the love mentioned be lawful or unlawful, 
which I consider as very objectionable ; it leaves 
an opening for bad application by readers that 
way inclined. This objection appears to me to 
apply in some measure also to the Songs, p. 1 12. 
146. 182. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 257 



•>■> 



In " Oh! Henry, sure by every art 
(p. 157.) I will not object to any thing but the 
expression "Oh! come it will," verse 2, line 
3, and the word shall y in verse 3, line 1 and 2. 
" My Henry shall with peace return, And war 
no more our hearts shall sever", as being pre- 
sumptuous. 

" How bright the sun's declining rays", 
(p. 158.) The poet says, v. 3. 

She died— and at that very hour 
Hope broke her wand, and Pleasure fled. 

Life is a charm has lost its power, 
TV enchantress of my days is dead. 

This is not the resignation of a Christian. 

In the Song " When gentle Celia first I 
knew," (p. 159.) the lover says " Oft shall I 
curse my iron chain". I conceive this cursing 
to be wrong. The principal sentiments of this 
song encourage a person in yielding to a passion 
which he blames in himself all the time. It is 
not uncommon to hear language of the following 
kind, but which, in my opinion, should be 
strenuously opposed by the moralist. A person 
says (either in a case of love, or some other) 
" I know it is a weakness, 1 know I am to 
blame ; but I cannot help it, — I feel it impossi- 
ble to resist." The flatterer answers, " Don't 
be unhappy about it, — it is an amiable weakness, 

z 2 



258 LETTER V. 

— we are not all made for every tiling." But 
the true friend and honest moralist would reply, 
" I know it is a trying situation, and I feel for 
your difficulties: but I must protest against the 
doctrine implied in your words and manner of 
speaking. You own yourself to blame, yet 
you say it is impossible to do otherwise. Con- 
sider what an accusation this is against our 
Moral Governor. It implies that lie will blame 
(and therefore punish) you for doing what you 
cannot avoid, or for omitting what you cannot 
do. Are you sure that in the bottom of your 
heart, you are not expecting (indistinctly per- 
haps) that those who hear you will praise, 
rather than blame, you ? Such self-deceit may 
exist." 

The introduction of fate at the end, (besides 
its being heathen fate) is, as applied to the 
Lover, in the spirit of the fault which I have 
here endeavoured to expose. 

The Song u If love and reason ne'er agree," 
(p. 161.) is very good, and a proper antidote 
to that beginning, " Can love be controul'd by 
advice", and shall be here inserted as some 
relief after the many sentiments I have had 
occasion to censure. 



OS AMATORY SONGS. 259 

LOVE and REASON. 



If Love and Reason ne'er agree, 

And Virtue tremble at his power, 
May Heav'n from Love pronounce me free, 
And guard me thro' each tender hour ! 
2 
But, if the pleasures Love bestows 

Are such as Reason pleas'd allows, 
Are such as smiling Virtue knows, 
To Love I'll pay my Virgin vows. 
3 
And such they are : for loose desires 

But ill deserve the tender name ; 
They blast, like lightning's transient fires, 
But love's a pure and constant flame. 
4 
Love scorns a sordid selfish bliss, 
And only for its object lives ; 
Feels mutual truth endear the kiss, 
And tastes no joys but those it gives. 
o 
Love's more than language can reveal, 

Or thought can reach— tho' thought is free ; 
'Tisonly felt— 'tis what I feel, 

And hope that Damon feels for me. 

In the Song, " When first upon your tender 
cheek", (p. 162.) we have " angel face" and 
" kneeling crouds adore"; and it is said that 
" Danger and death attend the sight" of the 
charms of the subject of it. 

In your Note on the Song, " He that loves a 
rosy cheek," (p. 165.) I perfectly acquiesce, 
and I can only say that it increases my wonder 
at the general materials of your volume: 



260 LETTER V. 

" Carew, though infected with the bad taste of 
his age, and in general overrun with artificial 
thoughts and conceits, lias written some pieces 
of great sweetness and elegant simplicity ; of 
which this is a very pleasing example." 

" The Song <•' Siill to be neat, still to be 
drest," by Ben Jonson, (p. 166.) is not bad. 

On your omitting a verse in the song " Why 
so pale and wan, fond lover?" (p. 167.) I 
have observed before, in my first letter, p. 26. 
I only wish that the instances of omission had 
been more frequent. In the manner of using 
the expression " young sinner", in the second 
verse, there is a levity which I consider as ob- 
jectionable. 

In the next Songs " Whence comes my love ?" 
(p. 167.) and "The Graces and the wandering 
Loves" (p. 169.) the Gupid and Venus with 
her divine attributes, as well as some lines of 
the common romantic extravagance, must be 
referred to a general censure. 

In " Round Love's elysian bowers", (p. 170.) 
" Beauty's smile" is called a " cloudless 
heaven". 

The Sigh, " Gentle air, thou breath of 
lovers", (p. 172.) is an elegant composition. 

In " Love arms himself in Celia's eyes", 
(p. 173.) Reason is treated in much the same 
way as in the Songs p. 146. and 254. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 261 

In the Song " Young I am, and yet un- 
skilled", (p. 174.) there is a great deal of 
artful simplicity. 

The Song, " Ye virgin powers, defend my 
heart", (p. 177.) is in the second volume of 
my Collection; but I altered the word powers 
to fears, and the twelfth line " There place a 
guard of pride", I altered to " Place Virtue at 
my side." 

In " Strephon has fashion, wit and youth," 
(p. 178.) the lady says of him 

He nothing wants but love and truth 
To ruin me with ease. 

If I understand the expression, Ci ruin me", 
the sentiment is very profligate. 

In u When clouds that angel face deform," 
(p. 179.) the poet says " I curse the sex," 
which is unchristian. 

The Song, " Fickle bliss, fantastic treasure," 
(p. 181.) is both profane and profligate. 

The beginning of the Song " On Belvidera's 
bosom lying" (p. 182.) is much too warm, and 
the latter part is false sentiment. It appears to 
lie under the objection mentioned p. 256. where 
reference is made to it. 

" Boast not, mistaken swain, thy art," 
(p. 182.) is humourous and not bad. 

The same may be said of " My love was 
fickle once and changing", p. 183. 



262 LETTER V. 

" Shall I , wasting in despair," (p. 185.) is 
given in the second volume of my Collection, 
with some variations, owing to the copy I used, 
and some trilling alterations of my own. 

" I do confess thou'rt smooth and fair," 
(p. 187.) has some good instruction in it, but 
the sentiments are rather coarse. 

The sentiment of the next, u Not, Celia, 
that I juster am" (p. 188.) is loose. The 
sentiment 

the whole sex can but afford 

The handsome, and the kind. 

is false and illiberal. 

" It is not, Celia, in our power", (p. 189.) 
is bordering on, if not quite, profane. 

In " Say, Myra, why is gentle love", I 
question whether this sentiment be just; 

The heart can ne'er a transport know, 
That never feels a pain. 

The song also supposes that even racking pain 
must attack the amorous breast ; and that this 
racking is general to the amorous breast and not 
merely in extraordinary cases. 

" Awake, awake, my lyre!" (p. 190.) from 
the Davideis of Cowley, has the merit of 
versification but nothing of valuable sentiment. 

In the Song " What shade and what still- 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 263 

ness around!" if the word "admires" were 
substituted in the last verse for adores, it would 
be a sweetly playful composition, yet expressive 
of a love of which a man need not be ashamed. 

The lady who sings " While Strephon in his 
pride of youth" (p. 196.) was not tenacious, it 
appears, of her virtue: the last reflection, how- 
ever, is not bad. 

The character given of the female sex in tlie 
song " Woman, thoughtless, giddy creature," 
(p. 197.) is of that humiliating kind so justly 
censured in Pope and Swift in your Letters on 
Poetry, L. ix. p. 121. And, though it will 
perhaps be said, that (in the concluding stanza) 
Bevil comes round, and practically acknow- 
ledges his error, yet, I think, the light and 
ludicrous alteration in him is insufficient to set 
against the great particularity of the preceding 
aspersions; and forms rather an accusation of 
his weakness than a defence of the sex. 

To " A Wretch long tortur'd with disdain," 
(p. 198.) though I must object as Bacchanalian, 
and could by no means admit it, yet I can allow 
that the latter part of it contains a coarse lesson, 
such as, received with caution, may operate to 
check the romantic and extravagant turn which, 
in some men, the passion of love takes. 

The Song " Cynthia frowns whene'er I woo 



2G4 LETTER V. 

her;" (p. 199.) by Congreve, is profligate. 
After what you, Sir, have said of this writer, 
in your Letters on Poetry (L. xviii. p. 252.) 
I should not have expected to have found this 
and some other Songs by him in a Collection 
made by you: " If Dr. Johnson's sentence be 
just, that Congreve's miscellaneous pieces 
" show little wit and little virtue," I should be 
wrong to recommend them at all to your perusal ; 
and indeed the little that is good in them is 
scarcely worth the pains of selecting from the 
bad or indifferent." 

" Love's but the frailty of the mind", 
(p. 199.) is full of false sentiment. 

u Fair Amoret is gone astray," (p. 200.) is not 
a bad picture of a Coquet. 

" Give me more love, or more disdain;" 
(p. 201.) appears to me to contain a false sen- 
timent in the first verse, 

Either extreme of love or hate 
Is sweeter than a calm estate. 

In the second the allusion to Danae is too warm, 
and the sentiment, 

he's possest 
Of heaven that's but from hell releast. 

is profane. 

The instruction in " Dorinda's sparkling wit 
and eyes", (p. 204.) is not a bad lesson for for- 
ward females, but is not very elegantly expressed. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 265 

" I tell thee, Charmion," by Congreve, 
(p. 207.) is, as usual, profligate : The Poet 
says " I never would be true", and " women 
love to change, and so do we." 

By accident, Sir, my Copy of your Vocal 
Poetry contains here a cancelled leaf (p. 207 
and 208.) from which I find that you have 
omitted the song, u Damon, if you will believe 
me," which was given in your former edition, 
and is retained by Mr. Evans in his re-pub- 
lication of it. 1 perfectly agree with you that 
it ought to be suppressed ; but I do not see that 
it is much, if at all, worse than several which 
you have retained. 

The Song, " Why we love, and why 
we hate," (p. 209.) is bad morality. It en- 
courages men to shuffle off from themselves any 
blame which may be in their actions or thoughts, 
and to cast it upon the shies, that is the Governor 
of the world, or on Fate, or Random Chance. 
Zelinda's will is not her own : nor are we to ask 
a reason for the man's actions, but take all as a 
riddle.* 



* I have made some remarks upon this subject before, Letter 
ii. p. 51, 52. But, since that part was printed off, I have met 
with a passage in Stanhope On the Epistles and Gospels, (in the 
Ep. for the Fourth Sunday after Easter: James i. 17 — 21.— 

a a 



266 LETTER V. 

Respecting the authors of the two following 
Songs, " Dear Colin, prevent my warm blushes" 
(p. 210.) and " Good Madam, when ladies are 



Vol. iii. p. 45.) so much to the purpose, that I shall here sub- 
join it: 

** In order to understand the beginning of it, let it be con- 
sidered, that the Aa>stle had before directed every one who 
lacks Wisdom, to ask it of God; and afterwards had set himself 
to refute the faise Notions some entertained, of Him and his 
Providence. To the disposal hereof having rightly ascribed 
.ill Events and Changes; they from thence very erroneously 
inferred, that he was the Author and Cause, of all the Sin com- 
mitted by Men. 

This Argument seems more particularly levelled at the 
Opinion of the Pharisees; A Sect of all among the Jews in the 
highest Credit and Veneration. Of these Josephus says, 
(Antiq. Lib. xviii. Cap. 2.) that they imputed all things to 
Fate., but adds, that they did not do this in such a manner, as 
absolutely to destroy Free-will. For reconciling this seeming 
Inconsistence, we shall do well to take notice, that they laid 
great stress upon the particular Frame and Constitution of 
Men, their Humours and Complexions, and the Influences of 
those Planets and Stars, under which they were. born. Thus 
they made the Virtues and Vices of Men to depend upon these 
Causes; and so charged upon God, the Direetor of these 
Causes, that Good or Evi), which Men could hardly, with good 
Sense, be said to choose, by those who held them to be by 
Nature formed for, and from their Birth necessarily determined 
to the One, or the Other. This Remark will be of some use to 
m«, in discerning, not only the true Occasion and Force of the 
Apostle's Reasoning, but also the Propriety of the Terms, in 
which it is expressed. 

In opposition to this dangerous Scheme, St. James, writing to 
Christians converted from Judaism, asserts every Advantage 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 267 

willing," (p. 211.) it seems that there has been 
some difference between Lady M. W. Montagu 
and Sir W. Young ; but if the lady was anxious 
to disown the former, the latter is not a song, I 
think, for a lady, or any one, to be anxious to 
avow. 

The next, " When first I sought fair C ilia's 
love," (p. 212.) is both profligate and profane. 

" Corinna cost me many a prayer," (p. 2 IS.) 
is unprincipled and coarse. 

u Take, oh take those lips away", (p. 214.) 
the description is of too sensual a nature. 

The Song " On a Lady's Girdle." (p. 216.) 



conducing to our Virtue and Perfections to descend upon us 
indeed from Heaven. Yet not from that Heaven where the 
Sun and other Luminous Bodies move, but from Above, (For 
this peculiar Energy some have attributed to that Word 
Above.) The}' come down from Him, who dwells in those 
that (according to a known distinction in use with the Jews) 
are called the Highest Heavens. Even from Him, who is truly 
stiled the Father of Lights, as he created and constituted those 
Lights and their Influences." 

Should it be said that this doctrine of the influence of the stars 
is now exploded, and may therefore be admitted in poetry as a 
harmless play of the fancy, yet I cannot but think that the fre- 
quent repetition of such expressions has a bad effect upon some 
minds. And there is a blameahle levity in attributing, though 
in jest, to stars or such like imaginary causes those high powers 
of superintendence and government, which we know belong 
only to one Supreme Being. 



2GS LETTER Y. 

contains insinuations of a very voluptuous and 
pernicious kind. 

" Go, lovely Rose!" by .Waller, (p. 216.) is 
given in the third volume of my Collection, 
with an additional verse by the late amiable and 
lamented Henry Kirke White, which gives it 
greater value. 

" If truth can fix thy wavering heart," by 
Garrick, (p. 217.) is not bad ; but there appears 
to me to be something too light in the last verse 
in mentioning 6i Heaven and Sylvia" together, 
wishing them to " grant his suit." 

The Song, " All my past life is mine no 
more," by Rochester, (p. 219.) where he says, 

If I, by miracle, can be 
This livelong minute true to thee, 
'Tis all that heaven allows. 

is both profane and profligate. 

To this Song, and the others beginning in 
p. 129. 199. 201. 223. 240 and 241 by the 
Wits of Charles the Second's days, I must add 
the lines upon this subject from Cowper's Table 
Talk ; where, giving a sketch of the History of 
Poetry, he mentions the age of Puritanism and 
the succeeding one of licentiousness : 

When Cromwell fought for power, and while he reign'd 
The proud protector of the pow'r he gain'd, 
Religion harsh, intolerant, austere, 
Parent of manners like herself severe, 



OX AMATORY SONGS. £69 

Drew a rough copy of the Christian face 
Without the smile, the sweetness, or the grace; 
The dark and sullen humour of the time 
Judg'd ev'ry effort of the muse a crime; 
Verse, in the finest mould of fancy cast, 
Was lumber in an age so void of taste : 
But, when the second Charles assum'd the sway, 
And arts reviv'd beneath a softer day, 
Then, like a bow longforc'd into a curve, 
The mind, releas'd from toocoustrain'd a nerve, 
Flew to its first position with a spring 
That made the vaulted roofs of pleasure ring. 
His court, the dissolute and hateful school 
Of wantonness, where vice was taught by rule, 
Swarm'd withascribbling herd, as deep inlaid 
With brutal lust as ever Circe made. 
From these a long succession, in the rage 
Of rank obscenity, debauch'd their age ; 
Nor ceas'el, till ever anxious to redress 
Th' abuses of her sacred charge, the press, 
The muse instructed a well-nurtur'd train, 
Of abler votaries to cleanse the stain, 
And claim the palm for purity of song, 
That lewdness had usurp'd and worn so long. 

Line 610, &c. 

" Swain, thy hopeless passion smother," 
(p. 221.) is far too warmly descriptive. 

" Love's a dream of mighty treasure", 
(p. 223.) gives a very false and degrading 
picture of love. 

" Chloe's the wonder of her sex," (p. 223.) 
This vicious song is included in the censure 
drawn (p. 268.) from Cowper's Table Talk. 

On the merits of the Song, " Pretty Parrott, 
a a 2 



270 LETTER V. 

say, when I was away", (p. 221.) I am sorry 
I cannot agree in opinion with you, Sir. For 
I think, it less " merits preservation", than 
oblivion, for the ideas to which it leads. 

" Why will Delia thus retire," (p. 225.) 
treats serious things lightly ; and the last stanza 
but one adds to levity a lesson decidedly im- 
moral and pernicious : 

All the morals that they teach us 

Never cured a sorrow yet : 
Choose among the pretty fellows 

One of humour, youth and wit. 

In u O clear that cruel doubting brow!" 
(p. 227.) I object to the sentiment 

— Jove but laughs at lovers' oaths, 
And lovers' perjuries." 

the song is light throughout : it casts a discredit 
on real virtues, and profanely jests upon a 
serious oath. 

The Song, " When Orpheus went down to 
the regions below," (p. 228.) I consider as a 
libel upon " Connubial love", and one of those 
songs which tends to set marriage in an unfavour- 
able point of view ; a view of it which is the 
cause of much unhappiness in the world. 
Some may say, the whole Song is a mere joke. 
To me it appears a very bad one, and bids fair 
to have upon some minds such effect as I have 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 27 L 

described. To this it adds a ludicrous idea of 
what is most serious, the place of punishment 
for the wicked : besides the introduction of a 
heathen deity, as presiding in such place. 

The same may be said of the next, a Vain 
are the charms of white and red/' (p. 228.) 
as far as relates to the eifect upon the married 
state. 

The next " Cliloe brisk and gay appears," 
(p. 229.) with two others soon following, 
" Celia, hoard thy charms no more," (p. 232.) 
and " Celia, too late you would repent;" 
(p. 234.) come ail under the far too frequent, 
but (I think) just charge of profligacy. 

" Say, lovely dream, where could'st thou 
find", (p. 238.) has in the second verse 

In heav'n itself thou 6ure wert drest 
With that angel-like disguise. 

The Songs at pages 240 and 241 are noticed 
before, see p. 268. 

In these two Songs, " She loves, and she 
confesses too" and " 'Tis now, since I sat down 
before" but especially in the first, Honour is 
spoken of in very disparaging terms. What is 
called Honour by many persons is certainly a 
phantom ) a noisy nothing, a stalking shade 
(p. 240.) and a principle of pride, (p. 242.) 
But there is an Honour, likewise, which is " an 



272 LETTER r. 

auxiliary Principle, engaged along with other 
Powers, in the cause of Virtue.' ' See A Dis- 
sertation on Duelling ; &c. By Richard 
Hey, L.L. D. Part vi. Sect. ii. In the first 
section of this part, the author observes, that 
" Honour has been distinguished,* (and, as it 
seems, with good reason,) into a Motive or 
Principle of action, and an End or Reward." — 
u A nice sense of Honour is sometimes men- 
tioned as synonimous to a refined sense of 
Virtue : and men are represented as performing 
noble and worthy actions from this sense of 
Honour, where the eye of the World cannot ob- 
serve them, and where not even a single Friend 
can be admitted as a spectator. This is a noble 
Principle ; but it is to be distinguished from a 
sense of Virtue, and may be traced up to the 
Fountain of Opinion or Reputation. 

A nice sense of Virtue is that by which we 
make ready and accurate distinctions between 
what is virtuous and what is vicious : but this is 
not to be confounded with the Motive which im- 
pels us to pursue the Virtue or avoid the Vice. 
This Motive is in one person the Hope of Reward 
or Fear of Punishment in this life ; in another, it 
is like the Hope or Fear respecting a future life ; 

* Adventurer, No. 61. 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 2-73 

in a third it is Benevolence joined to a per- 
suasion that what he does will contribute to the 
Good of Mankind ; and, (not to attempt a com- 
plete enumeration,) in a fourth it is a regard to 
his Character in the World." — He afterwards 
says " Attention to such points in particular 
cases, by frequent repetition, produces an ha- 
bitual Principle, a Sensibility, which becomes a 
new Faculty in the mind. And such seems to 
be the Origin of a sense of Honour. " These 
two sections are well worth the perusal of every 
reader ; and the opinions laid down in them make 
me lament that any thing should be said to the 
disparagement of Honour as a general Principle. 

To the list of profligate Songs must, I fear, be 
consigned " Pursuing beauty, men descry" 
(p. 243.) 

The next to it, (p. 244.) 

I. 

Come, tell me where the maid is found 
Whose heart can love without deceit, 

And I will range the world around) 
To sigh one moment at her feet. 

IV. 

Shew me on earth a thing so rare, 

I'll own all miracles are true : 
To make one mind sincere and fair, 

Oh ! 'tis the utmost Heaven can do! 

is profane towards Heaven, and unjustly debases 
huruan nature, or rather the female sex: a 



274 LETTER V. 

debasement which may encourage deceit and 
falsehood, by representing thcin as so common, 
and their opposites as so difficult. 

" Stella and Flavia every hour", (p. 244.) 
by Mrs. Pilkingtou, is at once beautiful and 
good. 

" Chloris, yourself you so excel/' (p. 245.) 
by Waller, contains a simile about " a spirit 
with his spell", as if there were such a thing. 

u In vain, dear Chloe, you suggest", 
(p. 246.) makes light of a species of incon- 
stancy, and also is too liable to a voluptuous 
interpretation, though a good deal involved in 
obscure expressions. 

" Should some perverse malignant star (As 
envious stars will sometimes shine)" — -(p. 247.) 
supports the exploded doctrine of the influence 
of the stars, on which see before, p. 51. and 265. 

You end your Collection, Sir, with 

" Why will Florella, while I gaze", (p. 249.) 
and say u This Song, closed by a beautiful and 
happy simile, may be regarded as a perfect 
model of the ingenious class." If the song be 
excellent on this account, it appears to me to be 
deficient in the more valuable ingredients of just 
sentiment and pure morality. 

Towards the end of your Essay on Song- 
writing (p. xlix.) you say, Sir, " If I were to 



ON AMATORY SONGS. 275 

pronounce in what class of those compositions 
our English song- writers have displayed the 
greatest degree of excellence, I should say, in 
that which contains the tender and ardent 
expression of the amorous passion ; and parti- 
cularly in those which describe the symptoms 
and indications of love — a topic originally 
derived from Sappho's celebrated ode, but 
dwelt upon with much additional detail of cir- 
cumstances in several of the pieces here inserted. 
I am mistaken if more truth and delicacy of 
representation can be met with in the amatory 
poets of any other language, ancient and modern ; 
and it is pleasing to observe that many of the 
best specimens are distinguished by an air of 
sincerity and faithful attachment, equally remote 
from licentious heat and from frivolous gal- 
lantry." 

In these sentiments, Sir, I am sorry that I 
cannot agree with you ; the object of this work 
is to prove the contrary, and I think that I have 
shewn that there is in the Songs in your Volume 
! little of the tender and ardent expression of the 
amorous passion, little truth and delicacy of 
representation , little of the air of sincerity and 
faithful attachment, but much of licentious 
heat and frivolous gallantry. Many of them 
are of that description of u am'rous ditties" 



276 LETTER V. 

winch Milton mentions as having Ci Infected 
Sion's daughters". (Par. Lost, B. i. 1. 449. 
See also B. xi. 1.580—627.) 

Should I be so fortunate as to convince you 
of this, and induce you to publish a Collection 
of a different kind, I should be truly happy at 
the effect of my labours ; but, if not, I hope my 
remarks may weigh with your readers, and 
prove an antidote against the poison which I 
conceive the present volume to contain. 

With this hope, Sir, in its fullest extent, I 
conclude my Letter, and remain, 

With great respect, 
Your &c. 




277 
POSTSCRIPT. 

September 18, 1810. 

As the pieces, Sir, in your Class of Amatory 
Songs are those included in the two classes of 
" Passionate and Descriptive" and u Witty 
and Ingenious" in your former work repub- 
lished by Mr. Evans, I shall now consider those 
Songs omitted by you, but retained by him. 
The first of these which occurs is at page 134, 
" Fly, thoughtless youth, th' enchantress fly", 
a song much too warm and voluptuous and 
containing some false sentiment. The same 
may be said of " On a bank, beside a willow," 
(p. 138.) 

Arno's Vale, by the Earl of Dorset, " When 
here Lucinda first we came," (p. 141.) is a 
song of sweeter versification, and less excep- 
tionable in its matter, than most of those which 
are retained of this class. 

" Bid me, when forty winters more", (p. 152.) 
is profligate in a high degree ; and the sentiment 
that, after those years have elapsed, and " fur- 
rowed deep my pallid brow" &c. " Then bid 
me court sobriety", is in direct opposition both 
to reason and religion. St. Paul's advice to 
Titus (ch. ii.) is not less applicable to a writer 
of songs : 

Bb 



278 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER V. 

" Speak thou the things which become sound 
doctrine ; that the aged men be sober, grave, 
temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in 
patience : The aged women likewise, that they 
be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false 
accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of 
good things ; that they may teach the young 
women to be sober, to love their husbands, to 
love their children, to be discreet, chaste, 
keepers at home, good, obedient to their own 
husbands, that the word of God be not blas- 
phemed." Nor does the Apostle omit sobriety 
in young men : u Young Men, likewise, exhort 
to be sober minded. In all things shewing thy- 
self a pattern of good works ; in doctrine 
shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound 
speech that cannot be condemned". V. 1 — 8. 

When pernicious doctrines in morality are 
inculcated or encouraged, whether by Songs or 
graver publications, surely this is not that sound 
speech^ in doctrine, which may not justly be 
condemned. 

" Tell me not I my time mispend," (p. 153.) 
is at best very silly, as the last verse will shew : 

Nor blame him, whoe'er blames my wit, 

That seeks no higher prize, 
Than in unenvied shades to sit 

And sing of Chloris' eyes. 

" Love and Folly were at play," (p. 20Q.) 



POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER V. 279 

and" An Amorous swain to Junopray'd," (Do.) 
are not either of them calculated to give just 
ideas of love. 

" Tell me no more I am deceiv'd," by Con- 
greve, (p. 209.) and introduced by Hoadley 
into The Suspicious Husband, by making 
Ranger read it, and say " Honest Congreve was 
a man after my own heart", (A. i. S. I.) is very 
profligate in its sentiment. Hoadley has made 
it worse by altering the line, " I always knew 
(at least believ'd)" to " By Heaven I all along 
believ'd". 

" Mistaken fair, lay Sherlock by," by Lord 
Chesterfield, (p. 210.) is peculiarly profligate 
and profane, which indeed can create no sur- 
prise, when we recollect who is its author. 

The following Parody, or Answer, may be 
offered as an antidote to it : 
l 

Mistaken Youth, lay Stanhope by | 

His Wit is all deceiving; 
'Twill neither teach you how to die 

Nor Happiness in living. 
2 
Happy to die ! no one can know 

Till Virtue is his Master; 
Therefore our study should be now 

To hold this Gem the faster. 
3 
Would You, my Charles, be truly blest, 

Make this your Inclination, 
Let Wisdom rule your candid Breast 

And curb each guilty passion. 




280 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER T. 

4 
To each pure joy free licence give; 

Each baser wish deny : 
Thus, jfree and happy , shall you live t 

Tims happy shall you die, 

" Come, little infant, love me now," (p. 225.) 
is both voluptuous and coarse. 

" As Ariana young and fair" (p. 235.) is 
extravagant and profane ; and " When first I 
saw Lucinda's face," (p. 236.) is still more so. 

" At Cynthia's feet I sigh'd, I pray'd," 
(p. 23S.) is most indecently voluptuous and 
profligate. 

To these succeed (p. 245, &c.) four original 
pieces, " One parting kiss, my Ethelinde!" 
" Bow the head, thou lily fair," — " Come, 
gentle god of soft repose," and u Aspasia rolls 
her sparkling eyes," but as there is little in 
them of an objectionable nature which is not 
already censured by some of my former remarks, 
I shall only observe upon the third of them, 

TO SLEEP. 
Come, gentle god of soft repose, 

Come sooth this tortur'd breast; 
Shed kind oblivion o'er my woes, 

And lull my cares to rest. 

Come, gentle God, without thy aid 
I sink in dark despair, &c. &c. 

Let me forget myself, my grief, 
And every care — but love. 



POSTCRIPT TO LETTER V. 281 

Such addresses, I conceive, divert the mind 
from the only true refuge in all cases of distress 
and grief, " the God of patience and con- 
solation", (Romans xv. 5.) and it appears that 
love, in its limited sense, is the only wish of the 
writer. 



Bb2 



282 



AMATORY SONGS. 



I. 
MAN and WOMAN. 

FROM THE ORATORIO OF CREATION. 

In native worth and honour clad, 

With beauty, courage, strength adorn'd, 

To heaven erect and tall he stands, 

A man, 
The Lord of earth, and nature's king. 

The large and arched front sublime 
Of wisdom deep declares the seat ; 
And in his eyes with brightness shines 

The Soul, 
The breath and image of his God. 



-&' 



With fondness leans upon his breast 
The partner for him form'd, 
A woman, fair and graceful spouse. 
Her soft and smiling virgin-looks, 
Of flow'ry spring the mirror, 
Bespeak him love, and joy, and bliss. 



AMATORY SONGS, 283 

II. 

WOMAN. 

1 

Who, in this world of care and strife, 
Doth kindly cheer and sweeten life, 
As friend, companion, and as wife? 

'Tis Woman. 

Who, by a thousand tender wiles, 
By fond endearments, and by smiles, 
Our bosom of its grief beguiles? 

'Tis Woman. 
3 
From whom do all our pleasures flow; 
Who draws the scorpion sting of woe, 
And makes the heart with transport glow ? 

'Tis Woman. 
4 
Who, of a nature more refin'd, 
Doth soften man's rude stubborn mind, 
And make him gentle, mild, and kind ? 

'Tis Woman. 
5 
Who binds us all to one another, 
By silken bands of father, mother, 
Of husband, children, sister, brother? 

'Tis Woman. 



284 AMATORY SONGS. 

6 

When hours of absence past we meet, 
Say, who enraptur'd runs to greet 
Our glad return with kisses sweet ? 

'Tis Woman. 
7 
Who, by a word, a touch, a sigh, 
The simple glancing of her eye, 
Can fill the soul with ecstacy ? 

'Tis Woman. 
8 
Bid me with mandate stern prepare 
To cope with death, with grief, or care, 
All, all, undaunted I would bear 

For Woman. 
9 
G uide me to mountains white with snow, 
Where chilling winds forever blow, 
E'en there contented I would go 

With Woman. 
10 
Friend and companion is a Wife, 
Who, in a world of care and strife, 
Doth kindly cheer and sweeten life : 

Blest Woman. 



AMATORY SONGS. 285 

III. 

LOVE. 

A GLEE. 

From The Lay of the Last Minstrel, 

BY WALTER SCOTT, ESQ. 

COMPOSED BY ATTWOOD. 

Lv peace, Love tunes the Shepherd's reed ; 

In war he mounts the warrior's steed ; 

In halls, in gay attire is seen ; 

In hamlets, dances on the green. 

Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, 

And men below, and saints above ; 

For love is heaven, and heaven is love. 



IV. 
TRUE LOVE, 

FROM THE SAME. 



True Love's the gift which God has given 
To man alone beneath the heaven. 

It is not Fantasy's hot fire, 

Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly ; 
It liveth not in fierce desire, 

AVith dead desire it doth not die; 

It is the secret sympathy, 

The silver link, the silken tie, 

Which heart to heart, and mind to mind, 

In body and in soul can bind. 



286 AMATORY SONGS. 

V. 
THE BREATH OF LOVE. 

From the Oratorio of Joseph and his Brethren. 
BY JAMES MILLER. 

What's sweeter than the new-blown rose 3 
Or breezes from the new r -mown close? 
What's sweeter than an April morn, 
Or May-day's silver fragrant thorn ? 
What than Arabia's spicy grove ? 
— O sweeter far the breath of Love. 



VI. 
LOVE. 

From The Play of The Mysterious Bride, 
BY LUMLEY ST. GEORGE SKEFFINGTON, ESQ. 

1 

Beware the fond delusion, 

Which simple hearts revere, 
Nor heed the bold intrusion 

Of passion insincere ; 
For hearts may seem expiring 

With sighs of deep despair; 
For eyes may gaze admiring, 

And yet no love be there. 



AMATORY SONGS. 287 

2 

But when the mind resigning 

Distinction's flattering state, 
Prefers, without repining, 

Humility of fate ; 
When wealth's unbounded treasure 

Creates no transient care; 
When poverty is pleasure, 

Be certain love is there, 



VII. 
THE RICHES OF LOVE. 

A Glee, for four voices: by R. Cooke. 
WRITTEN BY MISS WILLIAMS. 



No riches from his scanty store, 

My lover could impart ; 
He gave a boon I valued more, 

He gave me all his heart. 
But now, for me, in search of gain, 

From shore to shore he flies ; 
Why wander riches to obtain, 

When love is all I prize ! 



2S8 AMATORY SONGS. 

VIII. 

HEARTS. 

FROM THE OPERA OF LOVE's TRIALS. 
BY MR. PRATT. 

1 

No claim upon an honest heart, 
Gold or grandeur can impart, 
And the breast that's true to love. 
Faithful vows alone can move. 

What is empire, what a throne ? 
Hearts were never brib'd, but won; 
Riches are too poor to buy 
One gentle smile, one tender sigh. 



IX. 
CONNUBIAL LOYE. 



1 

Thy sacred sweets, Connubial-Love, 
Flow from affections much refin'd; 

Affections (source of bliss above!) 
Mutual, constant, warm and kind. 



AMATORY SONGS. 
O 

Hail, holy flame ! hail, sacred tie ! 

That binds two gentle souls in one ! 
On equal wings their troubles fly, 

In equal streams their pleasures run : 
3 
These pleasures from their duties flow ; 

Hence joys in quick succession come ; 
Each day they more enamour'd grow ; 

And have no wish, — beyond their home. 
4 
Happy the Youth who finds a Bride, 

In sprightly days of Health and Ease : 
Whose temper to his own allied, 

No knowledge seeks — but how to please. 
5 
A thousand sweets their days attend ! 

A thousand comforts rise around ! 
Here Husband, Parent, Wife and Friend, 

In every dearest sense, are found. 



X. 

CONNUBIAL LOVE. 

1 

The love that looks to present joy. 
And riots in Seduction's bow'r, 
c c 



290 AMATORY SONGS. 

Came arm'd with Satan to destroy, 
And Adam caught in evil hour.* 
O let the lay thy youthful bosom move 
To dread the horrors of illicit love ! 

2 
But Love that looks to future bliss, 
Nor blushes to confess his name, 
Taught Adam first the sacred kiss ; 

And bearing peace from heaven he came. 
O let the lay thy youthful bosom move 
To woo the blessings of connubial love ! 

H. K. B. 

1800. 



XI. 
THE GOOD HUSBAND. 

BY CHARLOTTE RICHARDSON. 

1 

Ye Fair, who would a partner chuse, 
Yet tremble lest your choice be wrong, 

For you a Sister's lowly muse 

Attempts to pour th' instructive song. 

* See Milton. Parad. Lost. B. ix. 1. 494. &c. 



AMATORY SONGS. 291 

2 

She bids you shun with cautious care 
The sons of vice, a numerous train, 

Of all their specious arts beware, 
Nor listen to their flatt'ring strain. 

3 
But he who walks in wisdom's ways, 

Who makes the law of God his guide, 
Whose actions speak his Maker's praise, 

In him you safely may confide. 

4 
His love through every scene will last, 

Nor time his constancy impair, 
E'en when the charms of youth are past, 

Still in his eyes you will be fair. 

5 
Like Joshua, he will serve the Lord, 

And teach his household so to do, 
His rule of life the written word, 

Its precepts daily kept in view. 

6 

If to your mutual earnest prayer 
Some pledges of your love be given, 

With all a Parent's watchful care 

He'll train them up as heirs of heaven. 



392 AMATORY SONGS. 

7 
Should sickness bend jour feeble frame, 

The glow of health forsake your cheek. 
His tenderness will be the same, 

His voice the words of comfort speak. 

8 
'Twill be his task to lead your mind 

From second causes up to God, 
To teach you how to be resign'd, 

And meekly bow beneath his rod. 

•9 
He'll tell you of a Saviour's love 

Salvation's wond'rous plan explain, 
And point you to the realms above 

Where everlasting pleasures reign. 

10 

Blest is her lot who thus prefers 
In Christian bands to be allied, 

The sure the ecstatic hope is her's 

To meet where death can ne'er divide. 



AMATORY SONGS. 293 

XII. 

THE GOOD WIFE. 

FROM PROVERBS XXXI. 
BY THE SAME. 



1 

Who shall a virtuous female gain ? 
Her worth what language can explain ? 
Her husband's heart in her confides, 
Discretion all her conduct guides. 

2 
She knows each various work to chuse, 
Her hands no needful task refuse, 
But rises with the morning light, 
And orders all her house aright* 

3 
She hastes the household goods to buy, 
The garden blooms beneath her eye, 
While temperance preserves her health, 
And frugal care augments her wealth. 

4 
Yet to the needy of her land 
She stretches forth the liberal hand ; 
Her maids stern winter's storms behold 
Well cloathM and guarded from the cold, 
c c2 



2$4 AMATORY SONGS. 



Nor doth she lack the rich attire 
Her rank and fortune may require : 
Her husband by her worth is known 
When with the rulers he sits down. 

6 
In time to come she shall rejoice, 
The law of kindness prompts her voice, 
Her industry is fam'd afar, 
Honour and strength her cloathing are. 

7 
Her children rise and call her blest, 
While joy pervades her husband's breast : 
" Though many daughters have done well, 
Yet thou, my Fair, do'st all excel I" 

8 
Favour 's deceitful, beauty vain, 
But love of God shall praise obtain ; 
Her works shall speak her truly great, 
While distant lands her praise relate. 



AMATORY SONGS. 295 

XIII. 
BEAUTY. 

BY CHARLOTTE RICHARDSON. 



Beaut y is vain, but a womaa that feareth the Lord she shall be praised. 
Prov. xxxi. 30. 



1 

Beauty is but a fading flower, 
The short-liv'd triumph of an hour 

Is all that it can boast ; 
Unless good sense and virtue bind 
More firm the fetters of the mind 

Its power is quickly lost. 
2 
The sparkling eye, the dimpled smile 
May some unwary heart beguile, 

Yet will not long secure : 
But when esteem and love unite, 
The flame of pure affection bright 

Forever shall endure. 
3 
The finest form, the loveliest face 
Adorn'd with ev'ry youthful grace 

Will quickly cease to charm, 
Since short is beauty's reign, for soon 
Disease can spoil the finest bloom 

And all its power disarm. 



296 AMATORY SONGS. 

4 

Then boast not of your matchless form, 
But rather seek jour mind to adorn 

With virtue's rich array • 
Let nobler themes your care employ, 
Seek for that pure substantial joy 

Which never can decay. 

5 

How blest is she who fears the Lord, 
Guiding her conduct by his word 

Each vain desire repels ; 
Her mind with heavenly wisdom fraught, 
No envious, no repining thought 

Within her bosom dwells. 

6 
She, she alone is truly wise 
Aspiring to a higher prize 

Than earth could ever give : 
She shall be prais'd while time shall last, 
And, when this fleeting life is past, 

In endless glory live. 



AMATOilY SONGS. 297 

XI\ r . 
MARY'S EVENING SIGH. 

BY ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 



1 

How bright with pearl the western sky I 

How glorious far and wide, 
Yon lines of golden clouds that lie 

So peaceful side by side ! 
Their deep'ning tints, the arch of light, 

All eyes with rapture see ; 
E'en while I sigh I bless the sight 

That lures my love from me. 
2 
Green hill, that shad'st the valley here, 

Thou bear'st upon thy brow 
The only wealth to Mary dear, 

And all she'll ever know. 
There, in the crimson light I see, 

Above thy summit rise, 
My Edward's form, he looks to me 

A statue in the skies. 
3 
Descend, my love, the hour is come, 

Why linger on the hill ? 
The sun hath left my quiet home, 

But thou can'st see him still ; 



I 



298 AMATORY SONGS. 

Yet why a lonely wanderer stray, 
Alone the joy pursue ? 

The glories of the closing day 
Can charm thy Mary too. 



Dear Edward, when we stroll'd along- 

Beneath the waving corn, 
And both confess'd the power of song, 

And bless'd the dewy morn, 
Your eye o'erflow'd, "How sweet," you cried, 

(My presence then could move) 
< i( How sweet, with Mary by my side 

To gaze and talk of love !" 

5 
Thou art not false ! that cannot be ; 

Yet I my rivals deem 
Each woodland charm, the moss, the tree, 

The silence, and the stream ; 
Whate'er my love, detains thee now, 

I'll yet forgive thy stay; 
But with to-morrow's dawn come thou, 

We'll brush the dews away. 



AMATORY SONGS. 299 

THE DAMSEL'S LAMENTATION. 



1 
1 once was a maiden, ah, blest was the day ! 
when 
Young Richard first courted, and told me his 
love, 
I listen'd too fearless to what he'd to say then, 
My heart was too open, too easy to move. 

He promis'd me marriage, — but why did I hear 
him ? 
Why yield to his suit ere the church made 
us one ? 
Ah, now he has left me; no charms can endear 
him. 
He's left me to sorrow, and I am undone. 

3 
Yet, had he been true to the promise he made 
me, 
When first he endeavour'd my fond heart to 
win, 
O yet must I say, that he still had betray'd me, 
Our love, all unsanction'd, commenc'd but 
in sin. 



300 AMATORY SONGS. 

4 
Ye maidens, attend to the truth I'm declaring, — 
O think nought but marriage can sanction 
your love ; 
Ne'er listen to vows, — oft false is love's swear- 
ing,— 
Be marriage the test the true lover to prove. 
5 
When two spotless hearts are by marriage united, 
Then fair is the prospect, the bond of true love, 
Then love will increase, nor the wife e'er be 
slighted, 
And Heav'n will the union with blessings 
approve. 



XVI. 
MARY 

THE MAID OF BUTTERMERE. 
Tune : Mien Brooke of JYindermei 

1 

Tho' beauty shone in Mary's face, 
In person too a polish'd grace, 
Yet I admir'd in Mary most, 
The village maid's superior boast, 
Since truth and modesty appear 
In Mary, maid of Buttermere. 



AMATORY SONGS. SOI 

2 
Tho' servant she at village inn, 
Full many strove her love to win, 
Tho' flattery oft would speak her praise, 
And strive th' unhallow'd flame to raise, 
Yet such love tales she would not hear 
The beauteous maid of Buttermere. 

3 
At length an artful spoiler came, 
And under a fictitious name, 
And under honour's specious mask, 
Her hand in marriage bonds did ask ; 
She, too incautious, lent an ear, 
The beauteous maid of Buttermere. 

4 
Of family and fortune both 
The spoiler spake, — that he was loth 
To tell his kindred of his love, 
Lest they his choice should disapprove ; 
Imprudently she paus'd to hear, 
The beauteous maid of Buttermere. 

5 
'Twas told, the marriage rite scarce o'er, 
The name of wife another bore, 
The guileless fair one thus betray 'd, — 
No longer wife, no longer maid, — 
Abandon'd, see, to sorrow's tear 
The beauteous maid of Buttermere. 
d d 



302 AMATORY SONGS. 

6 

Be warn'd by this, each lowly maid, 
Nor by ambition be betray'd. 
That lover's suit be still denied, 
Who will not own you for his bride. 
Sad is the lesson taught you here, — 
Ah ! hapless maid of Buttermere. 



XVII. 
MY MISTRESS, 

BY COWPER. 



1 

Ye minor beauties of the night, 
That poorly satisfy our eyes 

More by your numbers than your light, 
You common people of the skies, 
What are you when the sun shall rise ? 
2 

Ye curious chaunters of the wood, 
That warble forth dame Nature's lays, 

Thinking your passions understood 

By your weak accents, what's your praise 
When Philomel her voice shall raise ? 



AMATORY SONGS. 303 

3 

Ye violets that first appear, 
By your pure purple mantles known. 

Like the proud virgins of the year, 
As if the spring was all your own, 
What are you when the Rose is blown ? 

4 
So, when my mistress does appear, 

In sweetness of her looks and mind, 
By Virtue first, then choice approv'd, 

Tell me if she was not design'd 

T' eclipse the glory of her kind? 



xvm. 

THE HAPPY PAIR. 

FROM THE GOSSIP'S STOIIY. 
BY MRS. WEST. 

1 

Go, daughters of fashion, for pleasure repine, 
The joys ye pursue are not equal to mine ; 
The humours of thousands for your's must agree, 
Mine center in Henry, and Henry's in me, 



304 AMATORY SONGS. 

2 

The rose thrice hath bloom'd on the chaplei of 

May, 
Since I bow'd at the altar, and vow'd to obey ; 
Talk not of restrictions, the band I approve, 
'Tis sanctioned by reason, religion, and love. 

3 
Gay carols the lark as we rise in the morn, 
And at evening the blackbird chaunts sweet on 

the thorn, 
We join in the concert, why should we refraini 
Our hearts are as grateful, as lively our strain. 

4 
We bask in the sunshine which summer supplies, 
And count, fertile autumn! thy exquisite dies y 
No terror in ice-mantled winter we see, 
A book and a song still can conquer ennui. 

5 

Domestic, yet cheerful, delighted to blend, 
By prudent attentions, the lover and friend, 
In wedlock's full cup we some bitters expect, 
And allow for the frailties we try to correct. 

6 
Tho' shunning the many, wild Comus's crew, 
For social enjoyment we chuse but a few; 
Those few round our table shall frequently meet, 
Sincere be the welcome, and simple the treat. 



AMATORY SONGS. 



305 



7 
Our boy on my bosom I cherish with pride, 
He calls to those duties we gladly divide ; 
May he live when our limit of being is done, 
And our names and our virtues survive in our son. 



XIX. 

THE WIFE'S DITTY. 

1 
Johnny's left me for a while, 

O'er the mountains he's away, 
May he wander free from toil, 

May his hours be blythe and gay. 
Let not rains or rushing rills 

E'er his winding way oppose, 
Nor piercing winds, nor craggy hills, 

Nor hardening frosts, nor fleeting snows. 
2 
When the dusk of eve appears, 

May no will-a-wisp mislead ; 
May the roof of mirth be near, 

Sweet refreshing sleep succeed. 
While from day to day he roves, 

Forc'd so far, so long to roam, 
He'll think on her he fondly loves, 

For Johnny's heart is still at home. 
Dd2 



306 AMATORY SONGS. 

3 

Her thoughts are with him where he strays, 

Go where he will, she'll swift pursue, 
O'er dreary heaths, or peopled ways, 

She'll have his image still in view. — 
And when her Johnny comes to rest, 

And counts his tedious travels o'er, 
She'll clasp him to her faithful breast, 

He's come to leave his love no more. 



XX. 

THE WIFE'S INVOCATION. 

BY GEORGE WITHER. 
1 

No Joy or Grief can in this Life, 

More sweet or bitter be, 
Than, when the Husband and the Wife, 

Shall well, or ill, agree. 

Where they shall rightly sympathise, 
The dearest Friendship grows ; 

But, if, betwixt them, strife arise, 
They prove the greatest foes. 
3 

Lord ! rectify our hearts, therefore. 
And sanctify them so, 



AMATORY SONGS. 307 

That to eacli other, more and more, 
Endeared we may grow : 

4 
Until our frail imperfect love 

By steps upraised be, 
From things below to things above, 

And perfected in Thee. 
5 
Betwixt us let no jarrs be found, 

Or breach of faith be fear'd ; 
Within our walks, let not the sound 

Of bitter words be heard. 

6 
Preserve me from those peevish tricks, 

Which merit Scorn or Hate, 
From all those Humours of my Sex, 

Which Wise-men's love abate. 

7 
Let this in mind be always had, 

My Husband to prefer. 
The Woman for the Man was made, 

And not the Man for Her, 

8 
And that my heart may not despise 

His pleasure to fulfil; 
Let his commands be just and wise. 

Discreet, and Loving, still. 



>08 AMATORY SONGS. 

XXI. 
CONJILGAL DUTY. 

FROM LOVE'S TRIALS. 



1 

Could I a thousand sceptres sway, 

A subject still to 'thy controul, 
Thy gentle laws 1 would obey, 

And thou be monarch of my soul. 
2 
Or were I plac'd in highest state, 

High as Ambition pants to be, 
The proud distinction I should hate, 

Dear Henry, if not shar'd with thee 




XXII. 
THE PARENT. 

From the Dramatic Pastoral of Arcadia. 
BY ROBERT LLOYD. 

1 

With joy the Parent loves to trace 
Resemblance in his children's face : 
And, as he forms their docile youth 
To walk the steady paths of truth, 
Observes them shooting into men, 
And lives in them life o'er again. 



AMATORY SONGS. 309 

2 

While active sons, with eager flame, 
Catch virtue at their father's name ; 
When fall of glory, full of age, 
The Parent quits this busy stage, 
What in the sons we most admire 
Calls to new life the honour 'd sire. 



XXIII. 
FEW HAPPY MATCHES, 

BY DR. WATTS. 



1 

■Say, mighty Love, and aid my song, 
To whom thy sweetest joys belong, 

And who the happy pairs, 
Whose yielding hearts and joining hands, 
Find blessings twisted with their bands 

To soften all their cares ? 
2 
Not the wild herds of nymphs and swains, 
That thoughtless fly into the chains, 

As custom leads the way : 
If there be bliss without design, 
Ivies and oaks may grow and twine, 

And be as blest as they. 



310 AMATORY SONGS. 

3 

Not sordid souls of earthly mould, 
Who, drawn by kindred charms of gold, 

To dull embraces move ! 
So two rich mountains of Peru 
May rush to wealthy marriage too, 

And make a world of love. 
4 
Not minds of melancholy strain, 
Still silent, or that still complain, 

Can the dear bondage bless : 
As well may heav'nly concerts spring 
From two old lutes with ne'er a string, 

Or none beside the bass. 
5 
Nor can the soft endearments hold 
Two jarring souls of angry mould, 

The rugged and the keen : 
Sampson's young foxes might as well 
In bands of cheerful wedlock dwell, 

With firebrands ty'd between. 
6 
Nor let the cruel fetters bind 
A gentle to a savage mind, 

For love abhors the sight : 
Loose the fierce tiger from the deer, 
* For native rage and native fear 

Rise and forbid delight. 



AMATORY SONGS. 311 

7 
Two kindest souls alone must meet ; 
'Tis friendship makes the bondage sweet, 

And feeds their mutual loves : 
[Religion must light up the flame, 
Their faith and practice be the same, 

Best bliss on earth it proves.] 



XXIV. 
JOHN AND SUSAN. 

BY THE REV. C. BUCKLE. 



JOHN. 

Come hither sweet Susan, and by me sit down, 1 
Let's consult how soon wedlock shall make thee 

my own, 
For you are my true love, my joy and my dear, 
[ prithee, Love, let us be married this year. 

SUSAN. 

[ pray honest John, do not think of such things, 
For marriage both trouble and care with it 
brings, 



312 AMATORY SONG?. 

Besides times are hard and provisions arc dear, 
Which makes me so loth to be married this year. 

JOHN. 

If times they be hard, and our money be scant, 
I'll do my endeavour, that you shall not want, 
I'll follow my oxen with diligent care, 
I prithee, Love, let us be married this year. 

SUSAN. 

Should our numbers increase, 'twill increase 

our expense, 
I fear a sad lack of pounds, shillings and pence, 
Here's this thing and that thing will come very 

dear, 
Which makes me so loth, to be married this 

year. 

JOHN. 

Farewell, and Farewell, since it e'en must be so 
I am fully resoiv'd to another to go, 
For good luck or bad luck I never will fear. 
For I am resoiv'd to be married this year. 

SUSAN. 

Stay Johnny, my Johnny, O ! why in such haste, 
I will be your true Love, e'en as long as life last, 
The bells they shall ring and the music play clear, 
For joy, John and Susan are married this year. 



AMATOIIY SONGS. 313 

XXV. 
JOHN AND SUSAN. 



PART II, 



JOHN. 



Come hither, sweet Susan, and sit by my side,. 
Ten years have roll'd o'er us since thou wert a 

bride, 
Is your heart still unchang'd, your affection 

to me 
As great as when first I was married to thee I 

SUSAN. 

In truth, honest John, my whole heart is thine 

own, 
I love thee most dearly, and thee love alone, 
And I hope, as a partner, you ever in me, 
Have found one both loving and faithful to thee. 

JOHN. 

yes — but when crosses and troubles perplex, 

1 fear that sometimes my sweet Susan I vex, 
Yet look in my bosom, and there you will see, 
That all my fond wishes still center in thee. 

e e 



314 AMATORY SONGS, 

SUSAN. 

Indeed, my dear husband, you never will find, 
That man or that woman can always be kind, 
No sky without clouds can you long hope to see> 
Such trifles are little regarded by me. 

JOHN. 

When with rapture I gaze on our dear little Sue, 

I rejoice to possess such a pattern of you, 

She lisps and she prattles and climbs up my 

knee, 
I kiss her, and then I bless Heaven and thee. 

SUSAN. 

When I see our dear Johnny at foot ball and 

So sturdy, so blithsome, so manly and gay, 

His father's dear form in his image I see, 

O ! may he prove honest, and faithful like thee, 

BOTH. 
In affection united, then long may we prove, 
All the joys, that arise from connubial love, 
And each married couple, Heav'n grant they 

may be, 
Like John and like Susan, as happy as we. 



AMATORY SONGS. 315 

XXVI. 

WIFE CHILDREN AND FRIENDS. 

BY THE HON. WILLIAM ROBERT SPENCER. 



1* 

If the stock of our bliss is in stranger hands 
vested, 
The fund, ill secur'd, oft in bankruptcy ends, 
But the heart issues bills that are never protested 
When drawn on the firm of Wife, Children 
and Friends. 
Tho' valour still glows in his life's waning 
embers, 
The death-wounded tar (who his colours 
defends) 
Drops a tear of regret as he dying remembers 
How blest was his home, with Wife, Chil- 
dren and Friends. 



* The first verse of this Song, being inadmissible upon the 
Editor's principles, is omitted. The Song was too beautiful 
and valuable in its sentiments to be entirely rejected on account 

of that. 



316 AMATORY SONGS. 

2 

The Soldier, whose deeds live immortal in 
story, 
Whom duty to far distant latitude sends, 
With transport would barter whole ages of 
glory 
For one happy day with Wife, Children and 
Friends. 
Tho' spice-breathing gales o'er his caravan 
hover, 
Tho' round him Arabia's whole fragrance 
ascends, 
The Merchant still thinks of the woodbines 
that cover 
The bow'r where he sat with Wife, Children 
and Friends. 



The day-spring of Youth still unclouded with 
sorrow 
Alone on itself for enjoyment depends, 
But drear is the twilight of Age, if it borrow 
No warmth from the smiles of Wife, Children 
and Friends. 
Let the breath of Renown ever freshen and 
flourish 
The laurel which o'er her dead favorite bends, 



AMATORY SONGS. 317 

O'er me wave the willow, and long may it 
flourish 
Beclew'd with the tears of Wife, Children 
and Friends. 

4 
Let us drink, — for my song growing graver and 
graver 
To subjects too solemn insensibly tends, 
Let us drink, — pledge me high! Love and 
Virtue shall flavour 
The glass that I fill to Wife, Children and 
Friends. 
And if, in the hope this fair island to plunder 

The tyrant of France to invade us pretends, 
How his legions will shrink when our arm'd 
freemen thunder 
The war-cry of Britons, Wife, Children 
and Friends ! 



e e 2 



513 



AMAT011V SONGS. 

XXVII. 
LOVE AT FIFTY. 

BY MR. DIBDIN. 



1 

When I told you your cheeks wore the blush of 
the rose, 
That the spring was the type of your youth, 
That no lily a tint like your neck could 
disclose, 
I made love in the language of truth : 

Yet the loveliest rose, once the summer away, 

Of its bloom leaves no vestige behind £ 
But your bloom, when the summer of life shall 
decay, 

Fresh as ever shall glow in your mind. 
2 
See the Bee, as from flower to flower he roves, 

The sweets of the garden explore, 
And in winter to feast on the banquet he loves, 

Lay in his industrious store : 

So all your employment thro' life's busy day, 
Is the sweets drawn from goodness to find, 

Reason's feast to supply, and cheat winter away, 
From that source of perfection, your mind. 



AMATORY SONGS. 319 

3 

And thus, as the seasons of life pass away, 

We enjoy ev'ry various scene ; 
The spring all expanding, the summer all gay, 

The autumn all mild and serene : 

You are yet in your summer ; but when on your 
head, 

While from all admiration you find, 
Silver winter its honours shall sacredly shed. 

Still summer shall bloom in your mind. 



XXYIII. 
THE SONG OF SEVENTY. 

BY J. B. 



1 

I told you, Mary, told you true, 
If love to favour had a claim, 
That all its wishes warm'd my breast, 
And you were still my constant theme ; 
I told you then if mine you were, 
The pride of rank you must forego, 
And all the pomp of dress resign. 
For wealth I had not to bestow ; 
And, Mary, thou did'st not reprove, 
And bade me hope, and bade me love ! 



330 AMATORY SONGS. 



O, Mary, on thy lovely neck, 

The diamond shone with sweeten'd glance, 

And graceful was the silken robe, 
That mark'd thy motions in the dance, 
And joyous were the pompous croud, 

Thy birth entitled thee to join ; 
Yet pomp, and wealth, and friends you left, 

To be acknowledged, Mary — mine, 
Thou lovely did'st my suit approve, 
And bade me hope, and bade me love I 

3 

9 Tis long now, Mary, since we met, 

Stiff are my joints and hoar my hair ; 
E'en your cheeks too the wrinkles mark, 

And yet, my love, you're wond'rous fair, 
And were the wrinkles stronger still, 

While accents cheerful grac'd your tongue, 
How could I think but on those smiles 

And accents that adorn'd thee young, 
When thou, love, did'st my suit approve, 
And bade me hope, and bade me love ! 

How often, Mary, has my heart 
With secret rapture beat thy praise, 

While on your breast our infants hung, 
I mark'd their mother's tender gaze, 



AMATORY SONGS. 321 

And still, my love, thy lad is proud, 

Old as he is, he's proud to see 
The i/ounkers anxious for thy love, 

Come fondling round their Gran'am's knee ! 
O ! bless the day you did approve, 
And bade me hope, and bade me love ! 

5 
O Mary ! much I owe thy care, 

Life's best of blessings still you gave, 
But now, our various duties past, 

Our nearest prospect is the grave : 
Yet conscious of a virtuous life, 

We shrink not from the solemn scene, 
Sigh — sigh we must, that we shall part, 

But soon, we trust, to meet again, 
Where endless pleasures we shall prove, 
Nor ever, ever cease to love. 



XXIX. 

MY HUSBAND. 

JLDTERED FROM THE SCOTCH SONG OF 
JOHN ANDERSON, MY JOE. 

1 

My Husband, O my Dear, John, 
When we at first did wed, 

Your locks were like the raven, 
And you held up your head ; 



AMATORY SOtfGS. 

But now you're turned bald, John> 
Your locks snow white appear, 

My blessings on your hoary head, 
My Husband, O my Dear. 

2 
My Husband, O my Dear, John, 

The sweet-heart I first had, 
And still at church and market 

I've kept you tightly clad, 
There's some folk say you're failing, John, 

But it did ne'er appear, 
You always are the same kind man, 

My Husband, O my Dear. 

3 

My Husband, O my Dear, John, 

We've seen our sons have sons, 
And yet, my dear good Husband, 

I'm happy in your arms; 
And so are you in mine, John ; 

Deny it you will ne'er, 
Tho' the days are gone that we have seen. 

My Husband, O my Dear. 

4 
My Husband, O my Dear, John, 

Our money ne'er was rife 
And yet we ne'er saw poverty 

Since w r e were man and wife ; 



AMATORY SONGS. 323 

We've si ill had bread and cheese, John, 

Great blessings do we share. 
And that helps to keep peace at home, 

My Husband, O my Dear. 

5 

My Husband, O my Dear, John, 

The world doth love us both, 
We ne'er spake ill o' neighbours, 

Nor aught have done in wrath, 
To live in peace and quietness 

Hath ever been our care, 
And they will weep when we are dead, 

My Husband, O my Dear. 

6 
My Husband, O my Dear, John, 

From year to year we've past, 
Apd soon that year must come, John, 

Will bring us to our last ; 
But let not that affright us, John, 

We have no cause for fear, 
In innocent delight we've liv'd. 

My Husband, O my Dear. 

7 
My Husband, O my Dear, John, 

W r e clim'd the hill together, 
And many a happy day we've had 

In ev'ry wind and weather; 



324 AMATORY SONGS. 

So now we totter down, John, 
But hand in hand we'll bear, 

And we'll sleep together at the foot. 
My Husband, O my Dear. 



J. P. 



XXX. 

TO MARY. 

BY COWPER. 
1 

The twentiath year is well nigh past, 
Since first our sky was overcast, 
Ah ! would that it might be the last ! 

My Mary ! 
2 
Thy spirits have a fainter flow, 
I see thee daily weaker grow — 
'Twas my distress that brought thee low, 

My Mary ! 
3 
Thy needles, once a shining store, 
For my sake restless heretofore ; 
Now rust disus'd, and shine no more, 

My Mary ! 



AMATORY SONGS. 325 

4 

For tiro' tliou gladly would'st fulfil 

The same kind office for me still, 

Thy sight now seconds not thy will, 

My Mary! 
5 

But well thou play'd'st the huswife's parf, 

And all thy threads with curious art, 

Have wound themselves about this heart, 

My Mary ! 

Thy indistinct expressions seem 
Like language utter 'd in a dream; 
Yet me they charm, whate'er the theme, 

My Mary ! 

Thy silver locks, once auburn bright, 

Are still more lovely in my sight 

Than golden beams of orient light, 

My Mary! 
8 

For could I view nor them nor thee, 

What sight worth seeing could I see? 

The sun would rise in vain for me, 

My Mary ! 

Partakers of thy sad decline, 
Thy hands their little force resign ; 
Yet gently prest, press gently mine, 

My Mary ! 

F f 



326 AMATORY SONGS. 

10 

Such feebleness of limbs thou prov'st, 
That now at every step thou mov'st, 
Upheld by two, yet still thou lov'st, 

My Mary I 
11 
And still to love, tho' prest with ill, 
In wintry age to feel no chill, 
With me is to be lovely still, 

My Mary ! 
12 
But ah! by constant heed I know, 
How oft the sadness that I show, 
Transforms thy smiles to looks of woe, 

My Mary ! 
13 
And should my future lot be cast 
With much resemblance of the past, 
Thy worn-out heart will break at last, 

My Mary ! 



327 



LETTER VI. 



ON THE SONGS CONTAINED IN THE 
SUPPLEMENT TO MR. EVANS'S PUBLICATION; 
WITH A POSTSCRIPT ON THE SONGS IN THE 
LITERARY MISCELLANY. 



September 18, 1810. 

SIR, 

As I conceive it to be necessary to the com- 
pletion of my plan to examine the Songs con- 
tained in Mr. Evans's Supplement, though you 
yourself are not farther responsible for them, 
than as several of them are contained in your 
volume of Vocal Poetry, I shall in this Letter 
consider those Songs which have not before 
come under my notice. 

The first Song, one of Ariel's in The Tempest, 
" Where the bee sucks, there lurk I ;" (p. 259.) 
being a Fairy Song, falls under a former 
censure. (See p. 62. and 104.) 

" When daisies pied and violets blue," (p. 259.) 
has been in some measure noticed before, (see 
p. 26. ) and your omission of a vulgar and indecent 
allusion in quoting it. The introduction of the 
word " smocks", in these days, at least, is 
vulgar, as is the manner in which Turtles are 



528 LETTER VI, 



mentioned in the second verse. I introduced 
this song, with some alterations and an addi- 
tional verse, into the third volume of my 
Collection. 

The expressions, 6i Men were deceivers ever," 
and " The fraud of men was ever so," in 
" Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more," (p. 260.) 
are much too general and severe. 

" Wrong not, sweet mistress of my heart !" 
(p> 261.) is extravagant and wants u discretion." 

" Drink to me only with thine eyes," 
(p. 263.) is high-flown rather than Bacchanalian. 
The sentiment, 

The thirst that from the soul doth rise, 
Doth ask a driiik divine, 

is literally true, if applied in its proper and 
higher sense ; but with " Jove's nectar" we have 
nothing to do. One of the most pleasing sen- 
timents on this subject with which I am ac- 
quainted, is in the third scene of the fourth Act 
of Julius Caesar, the celebrated scene of the 
quarrel and reconciliation of Brutus and Cas- 
sius : Brutus says, 

Give me a bowl of wine : — 
In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius. (Drinks.) 

CASSIUS. 
My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge : 
Fill, Lucius, til! the wine o'er-swell the cup; 
I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love. 



ON MR. EVANS S SUPPLEMENT. J'ZV 

Bishop Home had a most happy turn for giving 
a moral or spiritual meaning to some of the 
common occurrences of life, and some passages 
from the poets. In his Essays and Thoughts, 
Article Devotion %. 6, 7, 10 and 11. are some 
specimens of this. One of the sentiments which 
should prevail in our minds in drinking of the 
sacred cup should be, 

In this I bury all unkindness. 

In " Away with these self-loving lads," (p. 264.) 
it is said, 

11 Away, poor souls, that sigh and weep, 
In love of those that be asleep :" 

by asleep does he mean dead ? 
It goes on, 

For Cupid is a merry God, 
And forcethnone to kiss the rod. 

These are terms of levity, applied to serious 
ideas ; especially to that of chastisement inflicted 
by a divine power. 
In v. 2. It is said 

Sweet Cupid's shafts, like destiny, 
Do causeless good or ill decree. 

And in v. 3. mention is made of Cupid's 
miracles. 

" Sweet are the charms of her I love," by 

Ff2 



330 LETTER VI. 

Barton Booth, (p. 265.) is a very beautiful 
poem. In the 6th verse the term Godhead, as 
applied to love, is objectionable, especially as it 
seems to mean Cupid. 

" My sheep I neglected," (p. 267.) is a 
pleasing specimen of pastoral poetry, and con- 
veys a good moral lesson. 

" My time, O ye Muses ! was happily 
spent," (p. 268.) by By rom, into which he 
introduces " Cupid", — " no pitying power 
that hears me complain," — " Deity," addressed 
to Cupid, and " despair", stands in need of 
being corrected by his own a Hint to Christian 
Poets", which I have given in the Introduction 
to my first volume. P. xxxviii. 

In the Song, u We all to conquering beauty 
bow," (p. 275.) the lady addressed is repre- 
sented as having all perfections, and amongst 
others, being " Like the divining prophets, 
wise". She is also 

Modest, yet gay ; reserv'd, yet free; 
Each happy night a bi ide; 

yet it appears from the next verse, that she is 
not married. 

"How blest has my time been", (p. 274.) is 
given in my first volume with the omission of the 
third verse, as I thought the trial of Jesse's 
temper both needless and wrong. 



on mr. Evans's supplement. 331 

u When first I dar'd by soft surprise", 
(p. 273.) may be considered as free from 
objection in a moral view. 

" I never knew a sprightly fair", (p. 277.) 
contains the sentiment, " I do not more incline 
to one Than I incline to all", which one does not 
wish to become general. 

In " Ah ! cruel maid, how hast thou 
chang'd", (p. 279.) the poet might have spared 
the cursed in the 5th verse; and certainly he 
concludes with a very reprehensible encourage- 
ment to the indulgence of haired. 

The Song " Ask'st thou " how long my love 
shall stay," (p. 280.) consists of the two last 
verses of the one before noticed, beginning 
" Dried be that tear my gentlest love". See 
p. 244. 

" Sally in our Alley ",— « Of all the girls that 
are so smart," (p. 282.) is a vulgar, and, in some 
respects, coarse song, to a very beautiful tune. 
The late ingenious Collins, author of The Even- 
ing Brush, wrote a Parody upon this, which 
shall be given under the Class Ingenious and 
Humourous Songs, it begins with u The Bard 
who glows with Grub-street fire, in Sally's 
praise profuse is." 

" To all you ladies now at land," (p. 291.) 
contains some " Muses" and " Neptune" and 



339. LETTER VI. 

some extravagant, sentiment. It is a favourite, 
and might, by curtailing and a few other small 
alterations, be made suitable for a collection. 

" You tell me I'm handsome," (p. 294.) is 
given in my second volume. 

" Hark ! hark ! 'tis a voice from the tomb !" 
(p. 295.) may be classed with the songs censured 
in the Postscript to Letter ii. (p. 58, &e.) and is 
liable also to the objection of dying for luxe. 

In u A chieftain to the Highlands bound", 
(p. 297.) we have a water-wraith. 

The Songs " Come, live with me and be my 
love," by Marlow, (p. 302.) and " If all the 
world and love were young," by Sir Walter 
Raleigh, (p. 203.) are introduced in that de- 
lightful work The Complete Angler, by 
Isaac Walton, as being sung by The Milk 
Maid and her mother, (chap, iv.) Sir John 
Hawkins, in his edition of that work, says that 
the first of these songs, " though a beautiful one, 
is not so purely pastoral, as it is generally 
thought to be; buckles of gold, coral clasps 
and amber studs, silver dishes and ivory tables, 
are luxuries ; and consist not with the parsimony 
and simplicity of rural life and manners." I 
introduced these songs, with some alterations, 
into my third volume. 

" A nymph of ev'ry charm possess'd," 



mr. evans's supplement. 333 

p. 307.) is, in the third verse, too warm. The 
word adore in the 4th verse had better be read 
admire. Here again we have dying for love. 

" l ne'er could any lustre see 

In eyes that would not look on me ;" (P. 312.) 

shews a passion wholly selfish. 

" Dear Chloe what means this disdain," 
(p. 314.) is coarse and profligate. 

" How yonder Ivy courts the Oak," (p. 318.) 
is a good lesson against an attachment to a harlot. 

" When Damon languish 'd at my feet," 
(p. 319.) from the Tragedy of the Gamester, is 
a beautiful Song. The word may had better be 
substituted for shall in the last line. 

u From anxious zeal and factious strife," 

(p. 320.) is not a bad song. It had been better 

had the slighted lover had recourse to the 

Sacred Volume rather than to u Newton's 

I tempting page". Neither of them, however, 

I accord with his " idly trifle life away". 

In" Why heaves my fond bosom ?" (p. 321.) 
(there is perhaps a little extravagance, in the 
! lover's saying he is enslaved by her mind. There 
is more, in speaking in so easy a manner of dying 
for love. Otherwise the song appears good ; as 
describing well some effects of love, and as 
giving to the mind a decided superiority over 
the charms of the face. 



334 LETTER VI, 

" Ask if yon damask rose be sweet," 
(p. 226.) from the Oratorio of Susanna, is a 
beautiful and tender air. 

" Would you taste the noontide air", by 
Milton, (p. 327.) is too warm. A Parody on 
this " Would you taste the morning air," was 
given in my second volume. 

" Blue-eyed Mary" — " In a cottage em- 
bosomed within a deep shade," (p. 335.) is a 
good moral lesson, but is told in language, per- 
haps, rather coarse. 

" My temples with clusters of grapes I'll 
€ntwine," (p. 339.) is downright Bacchanalian. 

" Says Plato, Why should man be vain," 
(p. 340.) is introduced into the second volume 
of my Collection with some alterations, it 
begins there, " Ah! why, my friend > should 
man be vain". 

" Sweet maid, if thou would'st charm my 
sight," (p. 342.) is too voluptuous. And the 
passage which mentions the frowning Zealots 
and their Eden is in danger of becoming pro- 
fane, from being applied by voluptuaries here 
to the Eden of our Bible. 

Boy ! let yon liquid ruby flow, 
And bid thy pensive heart be glad, 
"Whate'er the frowning zealots say : 
Tell them their Eden cannot shew 
A stream so clear as Rocnabad, 
A bower so sweet as Mosellay. 



on mr. evans's supplement. 335 

The calling the wife of Potiphar (Genesis 
xxxix.) by the name of the chaste Egyptian 
dame, I conceive to be a great perversion of 
terms. 

" Tell me no more of pointed darts," 
(p. 345.) is good. 

" I envy not the proud their wealth," 
(p. 346.) is given in my second volume, the 
words " Ye powers divine" in the last verse 
being altered to " O Power Divine". — A Friend 
suggests to me that it seems to cast a needless 
general censure on kings. 

" Cruel invader of my rest," (p. 350.) is 
full of extravagance and despair. 

" Oh ! how vain is ev'ry blessing," &c. 
u But when love its time employs", (p. 351.) 
requires the limitations before mentioned. 
See p. 234. 

" Encompassed in an angel's frame," (p. 351.) 
from The Lord of the Manor, by General 
Burgoyne, goes too far in the first verse, and in 
the second seems to require to be corrected by 
the sentiment mentioned in my remarks on a 
former song. See p. 245. 

This closes the volume, and I remain, Sir, 

With great respect, 
Your &c. 



336 
POSTSCRIPT. 

ON THE SONGS CONTAINED IN 
THE LITERARY MISCELLANY 

Sept.ll, 1810. 

Though not connected, Sir, with your 
volume of Vocal Poetry, and your former work 
now re-published by Mr. Evans, yet intimately 
connected with the subject of these Letters are 
those numbers of The Literary Miscel- 
lany, which contain Songs, and which have, 
I suppose, a very extensive circulation; because 
it is a cheap, elegant and respectable periodical 
work: and I shall venture to consider the con- 
tents of the Numbers S, 9, 10, 11 and 76 in 
this place. 

The Advertisement prefixed to the 8tb and 
9th Numbers gives a hope to the Reader that 
violent passion, indecency, and other baleful 
ingredients, will be excluded from the com- 
positions presented ; and that moral sentiment 
and other valuable lessons will be taught in them. 
This intention is thus announced : u Respecting 
the nature and tendency of these selections, — 
the songs retained are divested of expressions 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 537 

of violent and enthusiastic passion. Every 
subject presented possesses some preceptive 
rule, moral sentiment, or elegant thought. We 
have found no room for indecency, trifling 
composition, or the insipidity of modern Operas : 
the most enchanting powers of musical com- 
position cannot atone for the base alloy of levity, 
vulgarity and nonsense. All bacchanalian songs 
are rejected, because virtue and reason forbid 
us to join the crowd in misleading the inex- 
.perienccd and unwary, or to scatter flowers 
in the paths of vice and profligacy. Songs 
favouring false notions of honour and o-Iorv to 
be obtained in war" — " will make another ex- 
ception. Some of the ancient ballads, of this 
species of composition, will be retained, for 
the sake of their simplicity of style and pathos : 
relations of dreadful battles, and wonderful 
adventures of knights-errant and legendary 
saints, excite rather a curiosity respecting the 
folly, superstition, and credulity of former 
times, than impressions of reality and truth. 
Hunting is a savage, unmanly sport, comport- 
ing ill with European refinements, and ought to 
be employed, not as a diversion, but in cases of 
extreme necessity only, and even then with 
reluctance ; songs of this class are therefore 
discarded." 



338 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI, 

As I conceive that the Editor has, in his 
Selection of the Songs, departed from almost 
every one of these particulars, I shall consider 
the Songs under separate heads, and adduce 
instances wherein I think the rules just quoted 
are violated. The first head is Violent and 
enthusiastic passion. 

I. In No. 8. p. 7. The lover says of his 
Mistress 6e She was borne to be faire; I, to die 
for her love." And again " he that 'plaines of 
his false love, mine's falser than she." 

In No. 9, p. 15. is the Song " Come here, 
fond youth, whoe'er thou be," which I have 
before noticed. (Letter v. p. 240.) 

In " 'Twas in that season of the year" we 
have (p. 18.) " those graces that divinely shine". 

P. 23. we have 

A cruel fate hangs threatening o'er 
The lovely shepherd I adore ! 

In u Soft Zephyr! on thy balmy wing" 
(p. 25.) we have 

Her slumbers guard, some hand divine, 
Ah ! watch her with a care like mine. 

Here his own care is put in comparison with, or 
rather set above that of seme hand divine. 
No. 10. p. 3, 

Encompass'd in an angel's frame 
An angel's virtues lay } &c. 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANV. 330 

My heart shall breathe a ceaseless strain 
Of sorrow o'er her urn. &c. (p. 4.) 

For all ray soul, (now she is dead) 
Concenters in her urn. 

P. 8. In " From thee, Eliza, I must go," 
we have the very common extravagance of adore. 

Ditto. In " Adieu to the village delights," 
the almost equally common one of angel^ — • 
" bright angel". 

P. 17. In " How long shall hapless Colin 
mourn", it is said, 

Thy beauties, O divinely bright I 
In one short hour by Delia's side, 
I taste whole ages of delight. 

P. 20. " Despairing beside a clear stream". 
I have noticed before, (Letter ii. p. 51.) that 
unwarrantable renunciation of life which implies 
violent passion. 

P. 26. " One morning, very early," The 
Maid in Bedlam, I have before noticed, (L. ii. 
p. 47.) the phrase "I'd claim a guardian 
angel's charge". 

No. 11. p. 24. In " Oh how could I venture 
to luve ane like thee," we have here again the 
adoring. 

No. 76. p. 38. In " On Richmond Hill there 
lives a lass," the Lover says, " I die for her of 
love." 



340 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

P. 40. " Mary, I beliey-'d thee true", the 
lover says he would rather 

" die with thee, than live without thee V* 

P. 42. " What shade and what stillness 
around!" we have here again the swain who 
adores her. 

P. 52. " Blest as the immortal gods" he is 
represented, who fondly sits by the side of her 
who is the subject of the song. 

P. 56. In u Ask'st thou how long my love 
will last," I have before noticed the expression, 
" Nor let us lose our Heaven here". (Letter v. 
p. 244. 33\.) 

P. 57. In " To him who in an hour must 
die," there is a strained metaphor, comparing 
the swiftness of time with such a wretch to the 
slowness of the minutes, 

" Which keep me from the sight of thee." 

Again, " O come! with all thy heavenly 
charms!" 
P. 70. 

" Anna, thy charms my bosom fire ! 

And waste my soul with care, 
But, ah ! how bootless to admire, 

When fated to despair. 

Yet, in thy presence, lovely fair ! 

Desire may be forgiv'n, 
For sure ^twere impious to despair 

So much in sight of heaven. 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 341 

Is it not rather impious to say that he is fated 
to despair, and to call his Anna heaven ? 

II. Under my second head I shall adduce 
passages which I conceive to militate with legi- 
timate preceptive rules of conduct, or to be 
violations of just moral sentiment, and which 
are sometimes even profane. 

No. 8. p. 7. We are told as a general thing 
that u women are trothless, and flote in an 
houre." and p. 8. The Lover says of " the 
willow garland," " it doth bid to despair and to 
dye," and desires to have 

" these words engraven, as epitaph meet," 
" Here ljes one, drank pojson for potion most sweet." 

P. 10. We have a very unfavourable and 
unjust picture of Age and Youth, by Shakspeare, 
called here " Crabbed Age and Youth", in 
which the writer says " Age, I do abhor thee, 
Youth, I do adore thee". Very different are 
the precepts contained in Scripture upon this 
subject: " Thou shall rise up before the hoary 
head, and honour the face of the old man, and 
fear thy God." (Levit. xix. 32.) " The hoary 
head is a crown of glory, if it be found in 
the way of righteousness." (Prov. xvi. 31.) 
" Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and 
despise not thy mother when she is old." (Do. 
xxiii. 22.) The following Parody is given as 
setting the subject in a juster light. 
G g2 



34:2 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER. VI. 

AGE and YOUTH. 

I 
Sober Age and Youth 

Well may live together; 
Youth is full of pieasance, 

Age more full of sooth ; 
Youth like spring's gay morn, 

Age like autumn weather, 
Youth like summer brave, 
Age more settled grave: 
Youth can solace age, 
Age Youth's tire assuage. 

2 
Youth is nimble, Age is slow ; 

Youth is hot and bold, 

Age more temperate cold, 
Youth doth fire and make it glow. 

Age, I do admire thee, 

Youth, I do desire thee ! 
Know, O Youth, that, yet ere long, 

Thou wilt in turn be Age; 

Age, I thy heart engage 
To think that thou once wert young. 
J. P. 

P. 44. In the Nut-brown Maid, " Be it 
ryght or wrong, these men among", the Lover, 
in trying his Mistress, (p. 53.) says that when 
he is banished and lives in the wood, he has a 
maid, whom he loves more than the one to 
whom he is speaking. She replies 

Tho' in the wode I undyrstode 

Ye had a paramour, 
Ail this may nought remove my thought, 

iiut that I wyll be your: 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 343 

And she shall fynde me soft and kynde, 

And courteys every hour; 
Glad to fulfyll all that she wyll 

Commaunde me to my power : 
For had ye, lo, an hundred mo, 

' Of them I wolde be one', 
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde, 

I love but you alone. 

The want of morality and delicacy of sentiment 
here is very great. 

In " Shall I wasting in despair", p. 57. the 
poet says, 

If she be not fit for me 

What care 1 for whom she be. 

This is but a selfish, and consequently immoral, 
sentiment. This Song I have noticed before, 
p. 262. 

In The Lye, by Sir Walter Raleigh, p. 63. 
" Goe, soule, the bodies guest," are the fol- 
lowing general expressions : 

Goe tell the court, it glowes 
And shines like rotten wood; 
Goe tell the church it shuwee 
What's good, and doth no good : &c. 

Tell zeale, it lacks devotion; 
Tell iove, it is but lust ; &c. 

Tell Wisdome, she entangles 
Herselfe in over-wisenesse; &c. 

Tell physicke of her beldnesse; 
Tell ski!!, it is pretension; 
Tell charity of coldness; 
Tell law, it is contention ; &c. 



344 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

Tell fortune of her blindnesse; &c. 
Tell friendship of unkindnesse; 
> Tell justice of delay : &c. 

Although to give the lye 
Deserves no less than stabbing, &c. 

In The Wounded Fawn, " The wanton 
troopers riding by," the Lady is dying for the 
loss of her fawn (p. 84.) 

O do not run too fast, for I 

Will but bespeak thy grave, and die ! &c. 

For I so truly thee bemoan, 

That I shall weep though I be stone. 

At p. 84. is the Ballad of The Wanton Wife 
of Bath, a composition which I think should 
have been consigned to oblivion ; but, as it is 
civen in this work with the recommendation that 
" Mr. Addison has pronounced it an excellent 
Ballad: see the Spectator, no. 247." it is but 
too well known, and there is no alternative but 
to examine and expose it. The story appears 
to be grounded on the following passage of 
Scripture, Luke xiii. £4 — SO. " Strive to 
enter in at the strait gate : for many, I say unto 
you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 
When once the Master of the house is risen up, 
and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand 
without, and to knock at the door, saying, 
Lord, Lord, open unto us ; and he shall answer 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 343 

arid say unto you, I know you not whence ye 
are ; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten 
and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught 
in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, 
I know you not whence ye are ; depart from 
me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall 
see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the 
prophets in the kingdom of God, and you 
yourselves thrust out. And they shall come 
from the east, and from the west, and from the 
north, and from the south, and shall sit down in 
the kingdom of God. And behold, there are 
last which shall be first, and there are first 
which shall be last." 

The Soul of the wanton wife of Bath is re- 
presented after her death knocking at Heaven 
gate ; when Adam and various other characters 
mentioned in scripture object to admitting her 
into Heaven, on account of her sins, upon 
which she reproaches them, in very coarse and 
disrespectful terms, with the sins which they 
themselves had committed, and sends them all 
away in their turns, till at length our Saviour 
comes and admits her. On this it may be 
observed, first, that, in the scripture account, 
the Master himself only is represented as keep- 
ing the door ; and, in the next place, that we 



346 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER Tl. 

are bound to suppose the characters here intro- 
duced to have been admitted into Heaven, not 
on account of their sins, but on their repentance 
and faith in Christ ; and that, when they are in 
Heaven, they must be purified from all earthly 
passions, from enyy and uncharitableness ; and, 
if the Wife was an object of mercy and to be 
admitted into Heaven, they would, like a the 
angels," or, as angels, have " joy in the 
presence of God over one sinner that repenteth," 
(Luke xv.) But it does not appear that she 
ever repented. Without alleging this, she con- 
fesses that she had spent her time in vain, and 
lived most lewdly. Nay, Christ says " thou 
hast refus'd my profier'd grace and mercye 
both:" which could not well have been said 
if she had in this life repented. And we have 
no reason to think that there is any repentance 
after this life, but quite the contrary, as appears 
from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. 
(Luke xvi. 19, &c.) Also, from the text in 
Ecclesiastes (xi. 3.) " if the tree fall toward 
the south, or toward the north, in the place 
where the tree falleth, there it shall be" ; and 
from the words of our Saviour a the night 
Cometh when no man can work." "(John ix. 4.) 
I shall not enter into a discussion of all the lovr 
and indecent scurrility used by this Wanton 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 347 

Woman ; but there are two or three points which 
must not be passed over without notice* 

Mary Magdalene is considered here as the 
same person as the Woman who had been taken 
in Adultery. At the time of building The 
Magdalen Hospital, the name given to the 
foundation occasioned much controversy, and 
the learned Dr. Lardner, in a Letter addressed 
to the excellent Jonas H airway, vindicated Mary 
Magdalene from the imputation so commonly 
thrown upon her chastity. After slating the 
case and summing up the evidence, he says, 
" Mary of Magdala was a woman of distinction, 
and very easy in her worldly circumstances. 
For a while she had laboured under some bodily 
indisposition, which our Lord miraculously 
healed. For which benefit she was ever after 
very thankful. So far as we know, her conduct 
was always regular, and free from censure. 
And we may reasonably believe, that after her 
acquaintance with our Saviour it was edifying 
and exemplary. I conceive of her, as a woman 
of a fine understanding, and known virtue and 
discretion, wilh a dignity of behaviour becoming 
her age, her wisdom, and her high station. By 
all which she was a credit to him, whom she 
followed as her Master . and benefactor. She 
shewed our Lord great respect in his life, at his 



348 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

death, and after it. And she was one of those, 
to whom he first shewed himself after his resur- 
rection. As appears from Matt, xxviii. 1 — 10. 
Mark xvi. 9. and John xx. 1 — 18." (See 
Lardner's Works, vol. xi. p. 258.* also En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica. Art. Mary Magdalene.) 

In the next place the Wanton Wife says to 
St. Paul, that he persecuted God's Church 
<< all through a lewd desire". St. Paul certainly 
acknowledges that he persecuted the Church of 
God, and that on that account he was not meet 
to be called an Apostle, (I. Cor. xv. 9.) but 
there is no authority in scripture to attribute it 
to the motive here mentioned. 

She afterwards says of the thief who suffered 
on the cross at the same time with our Saviour, 
and who, on account of his penitence, received 
pardon from his mouth, that he, " for one poor 
silly word, past into paradise". 

Upon this subject Bishop Home, in his Dis- 
course, Works wrought through Faith a 
Condition of our Justification, says: u The 



* The Repty of Haiuvay to (his Letter is worthy the atten- 
tion of the Reader asa:< instance of candour in controversy, in 
"acknowledging an error when proved to hesnch, and of respect 
to the opponent, yet maintaining those points in winch he con- 
ceives himself to he ri^ht. (See Reflections, Essays, &c. by 
Mr. Hanway, 2 vols. £vo. 1761. Vol. II. p. 1.) 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY, 349 

example that bids the fairest for justification by 
faith without works is that of the thief upon the 
cross. But a nearer inspection will soon convince 
us, that even in that instance, singular as it was, 
faith came attended by her handmaids, repent- 
ance, piety, and charity. For first, without 
compulsion, he made a full confession of his 
own guilt and his Saviour's innocence — " We 
receive the due reward of our deeds, but this 
man hath done nothing amiss." 2dly, He 
made an open profession of his faith in Jesus as 
the Messiah, the king of Israel, when he hung 
naked on the cross, mocked and derided by the 
Jews, and forsaken of all, as an outcast of 
heaven and earth. 3dly, He prayed to him in 
that character — u Lord, remember me, when 
thou comest into thy kingdom." And lastly, 
his charity reproved and endeavoured to effect 
the conversion of his fellow-sufferer — u Dost not 
thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same con- 
demnation? And we indeed justly," &c. 
There is a passage upon the subject in one of 
the Fathers* so extremely beautiful and apposite 
to the present purpose, that I cannot help trans- 
lating it — " The penitent thief performs many 
offices of religion at the same time. He believes, 

* Arnold, de allimis septan verbis Domini* 

h h 



350 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

he fears, he feels compunction, and repents; he 
confesses, and preaches ; he loves, he trusts, 
and he prays. He is enlightened by faith, 
subdued by fear, softened by compunction, 
shaken by repentance, purged by confession; he 
is zealous in his preaching, and enlarged in his 
charity; he hopes through confidence, and 
obtains by prayer" Never surely did man 
perform so much in so short a time ! And, if he 
was not justified by faith alone, where shall we 
find an example of one who was." 

In No. 9. p. 9. In u Ye virgin powers defend 
my heart", (see Letter v. p. 261.) the lady 
wishes that " where frail nature seems inclin'd", 
they may " there place a guard of pride." 
Pride is a very improper and frail guard in such 
cases, (see before, p. 271.) 

P. 14. In " As pensive Chloe walk'd alone," 
mention is made of Jove descending to court in 
a silver shower. 

P. 21. In u Ye happy swains! whose hearts 
are free", it is said that love is fatal to human 
quiet, and the poet advises them to 

" Fly the fair sex, if bliss yen prize, 

The snake's beneath the flower; 
Who-ever gaz'd on beauteous eyes 

That tasted quiet more ? 
How faithless is the lovers' joj ! 

How constant is their care ! 
The kind with falsehood to destroy, 

The cruel with despair." 






ON THE LITEHARY MISCELLANY. 351 

The false sentiments in " The sun was sunk 
beneath the hill", (p. 22.) I have noticed before, 
Letter ii. p. 54. 

P. 24. In " Time has not thinn'd my flowing 
hair", the poet says " pleas'd, let me trifle life 
away". 

P. 26. In " No glory I covet", I have before 
noticed (L. iii. p. 99.) " The one thing I beg 
of kind heaven to grant". 

P. 35, In " When clouds that angel face 
deform", the poet says " I curse the sex", 
(see Letter v. p. 261.) 

P. 39. In " Why so pale and wan, fond 
lover?" it is said " the devil take her". This 
is the conclusion of the verse, which Dr. Aikin 
thought it right to omit. See Letter v. p. 260. 

In this same page occurs the expression " By 
Jove, the devil a word could I say". 

P. 40. I have before noticed " Not, Celia, 
that I juster am". (L. v. p. 262.) 

P. 41. " Cries Damon, teaz'd by dearest 
life," is profane and of the same kind with 
" When Orpheus went down", before noticed, 
L. v. p. 22. 

P. 44. " Mistaken fair! lay Sherlock by," 
has been noticed before. L.v. Postscript, p. 279. 

P. 45. In u Love's a dream of mighty 
treasure," it is said 

In the folly lies the pleasure, 



Wisdom always makes it less. &c. 



352 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

And 

Happy only is the lover 

Whom his mistress well deceives. 

P» 46. In" Young Jocky lie courted sweet 
Mog the Brunette," it is first said " her charms 
he ador'd", and then they 

now live as man and wife usually do ; 

As their humours excite, they kiss and they fight, 
'Twixt kindness and feuds pass the morn, noon, and night j 
To his sorrow he finds with his match he has met, 
And wishes the devil had Mog the brunette. 

P. 47. In " A Cobler there was, and h«r 
liv'd in a stall," the allusion in the last line of 
the 3d verse is low ; and in the last verse suicide 
is made light of. 

P. 48. In " There was a jolly miller once", 
the sentiments u I care for nobody, no not I, if 
nobody cares for me", and u the days of youth 
are made for glee," must be taken with many 
limitations to be admissible. 

P. 49. is 

" Yes, Fortune, I have sought thee long, 
Invok'd thee oft, &c. 

And the next song u Five thousand years 
have roll'd away," is profligate. 

P. 50. " Ye gentil 'squires, give o'er your 
sighs," express'd so generally as it is, is an 
illiberal censure of the fair sex. 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 353 

No. 10. p. 5. In u The sunsets in night, and 
the stars shun the day," it is said, 

His Ghost shall rejoice in the fame of his Sod. 

Though this is put into the mouih of an Indian, 
and may be considered as characteristic, yet 1 
conceive it to be liable to the objection, men- 
tioned Letter ii. Postscript, p. 59, &c. 

In " A dawn of hope my soul revives", it is 
said, " make him, ye gods ! your care." 

P. 8. In " From thee, Eliza, I must go," 
the cruel fates are introduced, and the maid 
whom I adore, 

P. IS. In " The moon had climb'd the 
highest hill", Sandy's Ghost is introduced 
speaking to Mary, and vanishing when " Loud 
crow'd the cock". This is another of those 
songs which fosters the belief in Ghosts ; as, 
likewise does the next, a Loud toll'd the stern 
bellman of night," (p. 14.) and u Despairing 
beside a clear stream," (p. 20. 22.) mentioned 
before. L. ii. p. 51. 

P. 27. In " Now spring returns, but not to 
me returns," it is said, 

Oft morning dreams presage approaching fate, 
And morning dreams, as poets tell, are true; 
Led by pale ghosts, I enter death's dark gate, 
And bid the realms of life and light adieu. 

No. 1 1 . p. 21 . In " Lo qwhat it is to lufe," 
h h2 



354 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

it is said " Thair is no man, I say, that can 
both lufe and to be wyise." 

P. 51. In " Pain'd with her slighting 
Jamie's love," it is said 

The gods descended from above. 

In No. 76. p. 10. In " Forgive, ye fair, nor 
take it wrong," it is said, verse 2. 

This index of the virtuous mind 
Your lovers will adore. 

For this, I believe, I am myself in some 
measure responsible, as the song is taken from 
the second volume of my Collection, and the 
expression was overlooked by me. I am there- 
fore happy in this opportunity of acknow- 
ledging and correcting the error, which may be 
done thus : 

This index of the virtuous mind, 

Your lovers will admire; 
This, this will leave a charm behind, 

When beauty shall expire. 

Having mentioned that this Song is taken from 
my second volume, I may observe, that out of 
113 Songs in this Number, 40 (above a third) 
are taken from my three volumes. This 
appears, not only from their being the same, 
and having the same titles I had given them ; but 
also from some of them being printed as I have 






ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 355 

altered them. I could only have wished that 
the Editor had acknowledged the source whence 
he had derived them. The Songs at p. 15. 44. 
52. 66. 68. 70. 82 and 85, Marias Evening 
service to the virgin, I do not approve. 

P. 15. "-Ye belles and ye flirts, and ye 
pert little things," concludes with, 

Bat if, Amazon-like, you attack your gallants, 

And put us in fear of our lives, 
You may do very well for sisters and aunts, 

But, believe me, you'll never be wives. 

The two last lines are quoted by Mr. Styles in 
his Essay on the Stage, p. 37. as applicable to 
females who go to see plays, and are noticed by 
me accordingly in the Notes to my Discourses on 
the Stage, p. 239. Surely whatever is im- 
proper in a wife is equally so in a sister or an 
aunt. 

P. 24. In " My friends all declare that my 
time is mispent," it is said, 

I ask no more wealth than dame Fortune has sent. 

P. 31. In " How sweet in the woodlands," 
the poet calls upon Chaste Dian to assist him 
in regaining bis Nymph. 

P. 39. In " The merchant to secure his 
treasure," it is said, 

And Venus to the loves around 
Remark'd how ill we all dissembled; 



356 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

P. 45. In u Ah why must words my flame 
reveal", it is said " I Iiate the maid who gives 
me pain." Here is hate: and that even though 
it does not appear that any injury was intended 
by the maid. 

P. 51. In " Echo, tell me while I wander," 
we have " Cupid's chains". 

P. 52. We have before had " Blest as the 
immortal gods" and in 

" Drink to me only with thine eyes," Jove's 
Nectar and I swear. 

P. 54. In " From the white blossom'd sloe, 
my dear Chloe requested," we have the excla- 
mation " by heavens !" 

P. 55. In 

" For ever, fortune, wilt thou prove, 
An unrelenting foe to love." 

It is farther said, 

For once, O Fortune ! hear ray prayer, 
And I absolve thy future care. 

P. 66. 

" O clear that cruel doubting brow ! 

I call on mighty Jove 
To witnes3 this eternal vow — 

'Tis you alone Hove, &c. &c. 

This has been noticed before. L. v. p. 270. 

P. 84. In u No more my song shall be ; ye 
swains," it is said, 

A Phoebus tunes my warbling lyre; 
Divinely aided, thus &c 



ON THE LITERAJtY MISCELLANY. 357 

P. 85. Is an Evening Service to the Virgin.* 

At morn and eve to thee I pray, &c. 

Oh ! shower thy choicest blessings down, &c. 

This is Roman Catholic Idolatry. 

III. In a Collection declaring against all 
indecency I should not have expected to have 
found the Song of The Storm, (No. 10. p. 28.) 
with the four first lines of the third verse as 
they were originally written. It appeared to 
me necessary to alter them in my Collection, 
which I, accordingly, did. Nor should I have 
inserted the Song No. II. p. 44. 

IV. To the head of levity, vulgarity and 
nonsense, may be referred several of the pas- 
sages already noticed, especially " Mistaken 
fair, lay Sherlock by," and The Wife of Bath. 
To these I add " Oh ! what apain it is to love ;" 
No. 76. p. 65. 

,V. Of Bacchanalian songs we have the 
conclusion of The Storm, where, after their 



•* In the third Canto of The Lady of the Lake is an Hymn to 
the Virgin^ and this has been selected by a Composer to set to 
music. I consider this as objectionable in the place in which it 
stands in the poem, where it is in some measure modified by the 
character and the time in which the action of the poem is sup- 
posed to pass; hut when it is separated from those circumstances 
and performed at a concert or in a private room, I cannot but 
consider it as worse. 



358 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

deliverance, " the danger's drown'd in wine." 
This I altered in my Collection : and I must 
notice that here, instead of " Since kind Fortune 
sav'd our lives," the Editor has put " kind 
Ileav'n", an alteration which I likewise have 
made, which I think highly proper, and which 
example I wish had been followed in other 
instances. See p. 357. 

No. 76. p. 44. We have " Tho' Bacchus 
may boast of his care-killing bowl". This 
song gives a decided preference to the pleasures 
of Love over those of Wine : and so far I cannot 
but approve, provided chaste love be intended ; 
on which point we are left in an ambiguous 
darkness, which is not. uncommon. But the 
song is also Bacchanalian in several passages, 
in the 5th and 6th lines, in the 3d line of the 
5th verse, and particularly in the concluding 
verse. 

P. 68. Are " Drunk as a dragon sure is he," 
and " If life like a bubble evaporates fast," 
which are direct Bacchanalian songs. 

P. 70. Is " Wine does wonders every day," 
and p. 82. " How stands the glass around ?" 
This last is called General Wolfe's Song; and, 
in some copies I have seen of it, is said to have 
been sung by him the night before the battle in 
which he fell. If this be not true, it is belying 



ON THE LITERARY MISCELLANY. 359 

him much to attribute it to him. If it be, how 
different was his employment at such a crisis to 
what it ought to have been, and from what has 
been the conduct of many brave and pious gene- 
ra is, and how bad an example is it to hold up 
to view. 

VI; Though I do not agree with the Editor 
in all he says respecting war, in his Advertise- 
ment, where he calls it, " (that crime and 
scourge of nations, that business of ambition, 
that disgrace of the human kind, that profession 
of butchery)," as I conceive there may be just 
and necessary war, in which, under certain 
restrictions, honour and glory may be sought 4 
yet I allow that it is too frequently, too generally 
what he there represents it, and of Songs setting 
it in a false light I conceive are those in No. 76. 
p. 79 and 82. "He was fam'd for deeds of 
arms," in which Honour and Conquest seem to 
be too exclusively the soldier's motive, instead 
of redressing the injured, and repelling the 
oppressor. " How stands the glass around?" 
I have noticed before, p. 358. 

VII. No. 76. p. 31. we have a Hunting 
Song, 4i How sweet in the woodlands". With 
this I shall conclude my remarks on the Songs 
in The Literary Miscellany. 



3b0 POSTSCRIPT TO LETTER VI. 

As many of Hie Songs noticed in these three 
works are contained in the Collection in the 
Elegant Extracts (one of the professed 
objects of which is " the improvement of 
Youth" " in thinking" and " in the conduct 
of life",) the remarks made upon them of course 
apply to that part of that work ; and the same 
principles will, of course, apply to poetry in 
general, under whatever form it may appear, 
from the Epic Poem to the Epigram. 



•--<r'5^©^j»-\ 



301 
LETTER VII. 

ON INGENIOUS, WITTY AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 



November 20, 1810. 
SIR, 

As one of the Essays and Classes of Songs in 
your original work is of Ingenious and Witty 
Songs, I shall take this opportunity of saying 
something upon that head, or rather upon the 
Humourous, or what, now, generally goes by 
the name of the Comic Song, a class of Songs 
very numerous in these days, and which appears 
to me to stand in need of great amendment and 
regulation. Of these you have exhibited very 
few specimens, your's being chiefly the inge- 
nious, rather than the witty ; as the former word, 
in its present acceptation, appears to apply to 
luminous or brilliant ideas, and the latter to 
those which excite ludicrous associations, and 
from their surprise occasion laughter. Much 
might be said in the way of dissertation upon 
Wit and Humour, but having treated this 
subject before, in the third of my Discourses on 
the Stage, and in the Notes annexed, and as 
i i 



362 LETTER VII. 

your remarks appear to me in general to be just, 
I shall merely avail myself of this opportunity 
to say something of a very generally used, and 
too much despised species of wit, the Pun, 
which appears to me to be not only a legitimate 
and excellent species of wit, but to be that 
species to which we now almost exclusively 
apply the term wit, that is, comic wit, or that' 
which excites laughter. 

A Pun, according to Dr. Johnson and the 
Writer upon that article in the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica, is u An equivocation, a quibble, 
an expression where a word has at once dif- 
ferent meanings"., and the latter author adds, 
that a the practice of punning is the miserable 
refuge of those who wish to pass for wits; 
without having a grain of wit in their com- 
position." That there are Puns very bad in 
their kind*, nay, that the greater portion are 



* The following Extract from a Sermon, by Edward Sulton, 
printed at Aberdeen, 1629, and entitled 4 * A Caution for the 
Credulous", will give an example of bad puns unseasonably 
introduced, and will shew the style and taste of Sermons in 
James the fiist's time : 

" Here I have undertaken one who hath overtaken many, a 
Machiavillian (or rather a matchless villain) one that pro- 
fesseth himself to be a Friend, when indeed he is a Fiend. 
His greatest amity is but dissembled enmity— his ave threatens 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 363 

bad, I am very ready to acknowledge ; but, 
like all other descriptions of things, there are 
many very good, and the censure should not be 
general, but confined to the bad. To prove 
this point I will now adduce some specimens : 
and I know not that any thing can be brought 
more to the purpose than the very excellent 
Epigram on Foote and Quin. 

i. 

l 

As Quin and Foote 
One day walk'd out 

To view the country round, 
In merry mood 
They chatting stood 

Hard by the village pound. 
2 
Foote from his poke 
A shilling took 

And said, " I'll beta penny, 
In a short space, 
"Within this place, 

I'll make this piece a guinea." 

a vce ! and therefore listen not to his treacherous ave, but 
hearken to Solomon's cave ; and, though be speaks favourably, 
believe him not. Though I call him bot a plain flatterer 
(for I mean to deal very plainly with him) some compare 
him to a Devil. If he be one, these words of Solomon are a 
spell to expel this Devil. Wring not my words to wrong my 
meaning, I go not about to crucify the sons but the sins of men. 
Some flatter a man for their own private benefit : this man's heart 
thou hast in thy pocket; for if thon find in thy purse to give 
him presently, he will find in his heart to love thee everlast- 
ingly*" See The Monthly Review for August 3777, p. 112. 



304 LETTER VII. 

3 
Upon the ground, 
"Within the pound; 

The shilling sonn was thrown } 
** Behold, (says Foote) 
The thing's made out, 

For there is one pound, .one. 7 '' 
4 
" I wonder not 
(Says Quin) that thought 

Should in your head be found, 
Since that's the way 
Your debts you pay 

One shilling in the pound. 

Here, from the double meaning of the word 
pound, as signifying a small inelosure where 
stray cattle are confined, and also twenty shil- 
lings in money, and from the double meaning of 
one pound and one shilling being a guinea ; and 
from debtors sometimes paying their creditors 
but one shilling for each pound which they owe, 
one of the happiest Epigrams is made, con- 
taining not only the two puns, but also a very 
severe Repartee as applied to Foote. 

The following Epigram on a Freeman, who 
had a bad voice, having a singing man's place in 
a Choir given to him, which has long been in 
circulation in this University, has not, that I 

am aware, appeared in print before, 
ii. 

A Singing Man, and cannot Sing ! 

Come, justify your patron's bounty, 
Give us a Song. — Excuse me, Sir, 

My Voice is in another County. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 365 

Here, from the word voice signifying the human 
voice as used in speaking or singing, and like- 
wise a voice or 'vote at an election, a severe and 
excellent pun and epigram is produced. 

The following Epigram, by Dr. Gould, upon 

his marriage, is good. 

in. 

In days of frolic, mirth and fun, 
(My name obnoxious to each pun) 

How quick the years haveroll'd : 
Now, verging to the close of life, 
I've taken to myself a wife, 

Whose only love is— Qould. 

The happy playful humour of this, with the 
mixture of affection and self-complacency and 
half satire in the latter part, with the half im- 
plied pun of goltf, makes it at once tender and 
humourous. 

The reply to it by the late Dr. Gooch is at 
once neat and severe : 

IV. 
Doctor, your Epigram is true, 
'Tis Gould she loves—and leaves out u (you). 

Next to these may be placed the Epigram by 

Isaac Hawkins Brown upon himself, and 

another by Garrick addressed to Dr. Hill, upon 

his petition of the Letter I. to Mr. Garrick. 
v. 

W T hen I was young and debonair, 
The brownest girl to me was fair, 
But now in years I old am grown, 
The fairest girl to me is Brown, 

ii2 



366 LETTER VII. 

VI. 
If 'tis true, as you say, that I've injur'd a letter, 
I'll change my note soon, and I hope for the better ; 
May the right use of letters as well as of men, 
Hereafter be tix'd by the tongue and the pen ; 
Sincerely I wish that they both have their due, 
And that 1 may be never mistaken for w (you.) 

VII. 
BY DR. DONNE. 

** I am unable", yonder Beggar cries 

•* To stand or go ,•" if he says true,-— he lies. 

Here the wit arises from the word lies signi- 
fying both lies down and tells an untruth. 

VIII. 
BY HACKETT. 

When Jack was poor, the lad was frank and free; 

Of late he's grown brim-full of pride and pelf; 
You wonder that he don't remember me ,• 

Why to ? You see he has forgot himself. 

Here, the word forgot signifying to have lost 
the remembrance of a thing in the literal sense, 
and in a figurative sense to have neglected to 
conduct himself properly, in the same manner 
as if he had really lost the memory of who he 
was, an excellent and severe piece of wit arises : 
It is improved by the antithesis between the 
words remember and forgot. 

The last I shall produce is from the Col- 
lection in the Elegant Extracts, similar to one 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 367 

given in your Essay on Ingenious and Witty 
Songs, p. 174. 

IX. 

FROM MARTIAL, B. VIII. EP. 19. 

Hall says he's poor, in hopes you'll say he's not; 
But, take his word for't ; Hall's not worth a groat. 

Where the wit consists in not worth signifying 
both not possessed of and not of the value of. 

If we compare these with some Epigrams 
which do not depend upon puns, the superiority 
of the wit or comic effect in the pun will be the 
more apparent. I select the following from the 
Elegant Extracts, which are some that I had 
previously marked as amongst the best there 
without any reference to this subject. 
x. 

BY PRIOR. 

To John 1 ow'd great obligation, 
But John unhappily thought fit 
To publish it to all the nation. 
Sure John and I are more than quit. 
XI. 
BY BANKS. 

Young Courtly takes me for a dunce, 

For all night long I spoke but once : 

On better grounds I think him such, 

He spoke but once, yet once too much. 
XII. 
Tom's coach and six !— Whither in such haste going ? 
But a shart journey— To his own undoing. 



368 LETTER VII. 

XIII. 
Jack his own merit sees. This gives him pride, 
Thai he sees more than all the world beside. 
XIV. 
BY JOSIAH RELPH. 
No, Varus hates a thing that's base; 

I own indeed he's got a knack 
Of flatt'ring people to their face, 
But scorns to do't behind their back. 
XV. 
MUTUAL PITY. 

Tom, ever jovial, ever gay, 

To appetite a slave, 
Still swears and drinks bis life away, 

And laughs to see me grave. 
'Tis thus that we two disagree, 

So different is our whim, 
The fellow fondly laughs at me, 

While I could cry for him. 
XVI. 
FROM MARTIAL, B. I. EP. 39. 

The verses, friend, which thou hast read, are mine; 
But, as thou read'st them, they may pass for thine. 

To these I will add three from another collection. 

XVII. 
BY GAY. 

Clodio, they say, has wit ; for what ? 
For writing?— No, for writing not. 
xviii. 
BY PRIOR. 
Thy nags, the leanest things alive, 
So very hard thou lov'st to drive, 
I heard thy anxious coachman say, 
It cost thee more in whips than hay. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 369 

XIX. 

EPITAPH ON A MISER. 

Reader, beware immoderate love of pelf: 

Here lies the worst of thieves, who robb'd himself. 

These instances may be concluded with The 
Epigram on an Epigram from the Oxford 
Sausage. 

xx. 

l 

One day in Christ-Church Meadows walking, 
Of Poetry, and such Things talking, 

Says Ralph, a merry Wag, 
•* An Epigram, if right and good, 
In all its circumstances should 

Be like a Jelly-Bag." 



** Your Simile, I own, is new, 

But how do'st make it out", quoth Hugh ? 

Quoth Ralph," Til tell thee Friend; 
Make it at Top both wide and fit 
To hold a Budget-full of Wit, 

And point it at the End." 

Here, though in fact there is a double meaning in 
the word point, signifying the tapering end of any 
thing, and also the turn or sting of an epigram, 
yet there is too great a similarity in the two 
senses, the contrast is not sufficiently great to 
cause much surprise, and much laughter. 

Some of the best of the wit by the generally- 
acknowledged wittiest writer of the age consists 



3/ (J LETTER VII. 

of pun, as for instance, in The School for 
Scandal, A. ii. S. 2. 

Mrs. Candour. She has a charming fresh colour.. 

Lady Teazle. Yes, when it is fresh put on. 

Mrs. C. 'Tis natural, for I've seen it come and go. 

Lady T. Yes, it comes at night, and goes again in the 
morning. 

Sir Benjamin. True, madam, it not only goes and comes, 
but, what's more, her maid can fetch and carry it. 

Again, in The Duenna, A. ii. S. 3. 

Jerome. She has her aunt Ursula's nose, and her grand- 
mother's forehead to a hair. 

Isaac. Aye, and her grandfather's chin, to a hair. 

Instances might be multiplied without end 
from some of our best authors. 

Of Comic Songs containing puns, the first, 
which at this time presents itself to my notice, 
is one of Trudge's, in Inkle and Yarico, in 
which the puns, though not of the first rate, are 
jet amusing. In a Song, where there are 
several, and there is the additional pleasure 
derived from the music, a less degree of excel- 
lence will suffice than in an Epigram, where the 
whole life of it depends upon the pun or point. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 371 

SONG. I. 

BY GEORGE COLMA'N, THE YOUNGER. 
Tune : Last Valentine's Bay. 

1 

A voyage over seas had not enter VI my head, 
Had I known but on which side to batter my 
bread, 
Heigho! sure I — for hunger must die ! 
I've sail'd like a booby ; come here in a squall, 
Where, alas ! there's no bread to be butter'd 
at all! 
Oho! I'ma terrible booby! 
Oh, what a sad booby am 1 ! 
2 
In London what gay chop-house signs iri the 

street ! 
But the only sign here is of nothing to eat. 

Heigho ! that I — for hunger should die ! 
[My mutton's all lost, I'm a poor starving elf, 
And for all the world like a lost mutton myself; 
Oho ! I shall die like a lost mutton ! 
Oh what a lost mutton am I ! 

3 
For a neat slice of beef, I could roar like a bull ; 
And my stomach's so empty my heart is quite full. 
Heigho ! that I — for hunger should die !] 



372 LETTER VII. 

But,' grave without meat, I must here meet my 

grave, 
For my bacon, I fancy, I never shall save : 

Oho ! I shall ne'er save my bacon ! 

I can't save my bacon, not I ! 

The term lost mutton in verse two, appears to 
be a light parody on the scripture phrase of a 
lost sheep, and is therefore objectionable and 
should be omitted . 

The Ballad of Sir John Barleycorn, given 
before, p. 72. is an allegory with some little 
share of pun in it, as well as humour. 

There are puns also in the two Songs of The 
Blacksmith in the 3d volume of my Collection, 
p. 88. and 90. the latter of which is from the 
Opera of Catch him zoho can. 

The Serious Pun, which is similar to the 
Paronomasia of the Greeks and Romans, is 
sometimes used by Collins in his Songs. The 
Mulberry tree has some, but the fruit is not of 
the best flavour. The following, in his Song of 
To-morrow, or The Prospect of Hope, (the 
whole of which is given in my Collection, 
vol. 1. p. 194.) is not bad: 

And when I at last must throw off this frail covering, 
Which I've worn for three-score years and ten ; 

On the brink of the grave I'll not seek to keep hovering, 
Nor my thread wish to spin o'er again ; 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 373 

But my face in the glass I'll serenely survey, 
And with smiles count each wrinkle and furrow ; 

As this old worn out stuff which is thread-bare to-day, 
May become everlasting to-morrow. 

Collins's Song, which he calls Collins's 
Sally, A Yocal Parody, being a parody upon 
Sally in our Alley, (see p. 331.) or, more pro- 
perly, an answer to it, must rather be termed 
pleasant and ingenious than witty. It is not a 
song of the first rate, but answers the purpose 
-of preserving that very beautiful tune, though 
that is also done by two other songs in my firs 
volume, p. 293. and 295. 

II. 
COLLINS's SALLY. 



1 
The Bard, who glows with Grub-street fire, 

In Sally's praise profuse is ; 
But know the Sally I admire, 

'Tis polish'd wit produces. 
Sweet sprightly nymph, 't is thee I mean, 

I stand not s hilly shally ; 
Thou art my fancy's lawful queen. 

Thou art my lovely Sally. 
Kk 



S74 LETTER VII. 

2 

'Tis true we're told in prose and rhyme 

A Wit is but a feather, 
But let me lightly mount sublime, 

A rush for wind or weather, 
For, like the lark, Fll soar and sing, 

While from the sordid valley 
The grov'ling earth-worm ne'er takes wing, 

Nor courts a modest Sally. 

3 
Sallies of wit, where wisdom rules, 

Are gladsome gamesome gay things, 
But those who sport with pointed tools 

Should handle well their play things. 
Then, haply, when the stroke offend, 

No longer prone to rally, 
I'll silence keep to keep my friend, 

And check the sportive Sally. 

4 
And as Old Time speeds on apace, 

H is sport and prey to make us ; 
With hasty strides and hot-foot chace 

Determin'd to o'ertake us ; 
When from the Sally-port of life 

We move to close Life's tally, 
Releas'd from cank'ring care and strif 

Triumphant be our Sally. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 375 

Parody, according to Johnson, is " A kind 
of writing, in which the words of an author or 
his thoughts are taken, and by a slight change 
adapted to some new purpose." The Parody 
is, therefore, a species of wit which pleases 
from the surprize occasioned by the contrast 
between the old and the new application. A 
very excellent specimen of this occurs in The 
Fashionable World displayed, by The Rev. 
John Owen, in a Parody on Gray's Ode to 
Spring, in the character of A Man of Fashion. 

III. 
ODE ON THE SPRING. 

BY A MAN OP FASHION. 
1 

Lo ! where the party-giving dames, 

Fair Fashion's train, appear, 
Disclose the long-expected games, 

And wake the modish year. 
The opera- warbler pours her throat, 
Responsive to the actor's note, 

The dear-bought harmony of Spring ; 
While, beaming pleasure as they fly, 
Bright flambeaus thro' the murky sky 

Their welcome fragrance fling. 



376 LETTER TIT. 

2 

Where'er the rout's full myriads close 

The staircase and the door, 
Where'er thick files of belles and beaus 

Perspire thro' ev'ry pore : 
Beside some faro-table's brink, 
With me the Muse shall stand and think, 

(Hemm'd sweetly in by squeeze of state,) 
Kow vast the comfort of the crowd, 
How condescending are the proud y 

How happy are the great. 

3 
Still is the toiling hand of Care, 

The drays and hacks repose ; 
But, hark, how thro' the vacant air 

The rattling clamour glows I 
The wanton Miss and rakish Blade 5 
Eager to join the masquerade. 

Thro' streets and squares pursue their fun : 
Home in the dark some bashful skim ; 
Some, ling'ring late, their motley trim 

Exhibit to the sun. 

4 
To Dissipation's playful eye, 

Such is the life of man, 
And they that halt and they that fly 

Should have no other plan : 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 377 

Alike the busy and the gay 

Should sport all night till break of day, 

In Fashion's varying colours drest ; 
Till seiz'd for debt through rude mischance, 
Or chill'd by age, they leave the dance, 

In gaol or dust — to rest. 
5 
Methinks I hear, in accents low, 

Some sober quiz reply, 
Poor child of Folly ! what art thou ? 

A Bond-street butterfly ! 
Thy choice nor Health nor Nature greets, 
No taste hast thou of vernal sweets, 

Enslav'd by noise, and dress, and play : 
Ere thou art to the country flown, 
The sun will scorch, the Spring be gone, 

Then leave the town in May. 



The following Songs may perhaps be more 
properly termed ingenious than witty. 

IV. 
A GOOD WIFE. 

1 

A Wife domestic, good and pure, 
Like Snail, should keep within her door; 
But not like Snail, in silver'd track, 
Place all her wealth upon her back. 
Kk2 



378 LETTER VII. 

2 

A Wife should be like Echo true, 
And, courteous, speak when spoken to j 
But not like Echo still be heard 
Contending for the final word. 

3 
Like a Town Clock a Wife should be, 
Keep time and regularity ; 
But not like Clocks harangue so clear 
That all the town her voice might hear. 

4 
Young Man, if these allusions strike, 

She whom as bride you'd hail, 
Should be just like, and just unlike 

An Echo, Clock, and Snail. 



V. 
ECHO SONG. 



1 

Echo ! tell me while I wander 

O'er this verdant plain to prove him, 

If my shepherd still grows fonder, 
Ought I in return to love him ? 

Echo, Love him ? love hrm. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 3'79 

If he loves, as is the fashion, 
Should I churlishly forsake him ; 

Or, in pity to his passion, 

Fondly to my bosom take him ? 

Echo. Take him, take him. 

3 
Thy advice I'll then adhere to, 

Since in love's soft bands I've led him, 
And with" Henry shall not fear to 
Marry, if you answer— wed him. 

Echo, Wed him, wed him. 



VI. 
YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, and TO-MORROW. 



YESTERDAY. 

Yesterday I — thy motley fate 
Is from death a birth to date ; 
All existence to disclaim, 
When we give thee first a name. 

Thy survivor is " To-day " 
So wer't thou calVd Yesterday ; 
And as moves the wheel of sorrow. 
He will have thy name to-morrow. 



380 LETTER VII, 

TO-DAY. 

But the day begins to rise, 
Man's inestimable prize ! 
Now the past his death receives, 
And the op'ning future lives ! 

Come, To-day, I'll cling to thee ! 
Come, and pitch thy tent with me ! 
What is Yesterday ', review'd? 
Empty as To-morrow's good. 

TO-MORROW. 

Last intrudes To-morrow'' s gloom, 
Stern with its imperious doom ; 
Tells me of the day that flies, 
Never lives, but never dies. 

Born at twelve, shuts up the night, 
Perishing before it's light ; 
Fancy's child, and Folly's Queen, 
Lov'd and fear'd, but still unseen. 



VII. 
GOOD-BYE AND HOW-D'YE-DO. 

BY THE HON. W. R. SPENCER. 
1 

One day Good-bye met How-d'ye-do 

Too close to shun saluting, 
But soon the rival sisters flew 

From kissing to disputing. 



• INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. S8i 

" Away," says How-d'ye-do, " your mien 

Appals my cheerful nature, 
No name so sad as your's is seen 

In sorrow's nomenclature." 

2 
ce Whene'er I give one sunshine hour, 

Your cloud comes o'er to shade it ; 
Where'er I plant one blooming flower, 

Your mildew drops to fade it." 

"E'er How-d'ye-do has tun'd each tongue 

To Hope's delightful measure, 
Good-bye in friendship's ear has rung 

The knell of parting pleasure." 

3 
" From sorrow's part my chemic- skill 

Draws smiles of consolation ; 
Whilst you from present joys distill 

The tears of separation." 

Good-bye replied " Your statement's true 
And well your cause you've pleaded ; 

But, pray, who thinks of How-d'ye-do^ 
Unless Good-bye preceded 2" 

4 
a Without my prior influence, 

Could yours have ever flourished > 
And can your hands one flow'r dispense^ 

But those my tears have nourish'd ?" 



LETTER Vir. 

" How oft, if at the court of love 

Concealment be the fashion, 
When How-d'ye-do has fail'd to move, 

Good-bye reveals the passion." 

5 

(i How oft when love's soft fires decline, 

As ev'ry heart remembers, 
One sigh of mine, and only mine, 

Revives the dying embers." 

" Go bid the timid lover chuse, 

And I'll resign my charter, 
If he for ten kind How-d'ye-dos 

One kind Good-bye would barter." 

& 
u From love and friendship's kindred source 

We both derive existence, 
And they would both lose half their force, 

Without our joint assistance." 

u 'Tis well, the world our merit knows, 

Since time, there's no denying, 
One half in How-d'ye-doing goes, 

And t'other in Good-bying." 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 383 
VIII. 

THE WORTHY LOVER. 



1 

Now, tell me , Artist, can She love? 
Or, loving, can She constant prove? 
Constant She is, and love She can ; 
But hard it is, to find the Man ! 

What one to please Her must he be? 

Worthy and lovely, such as She. 
2 
Then must I of her Love despair. 
For she so worth?/ is and fair. 
As the best worthiness in me 
Cannot come near in least degree: 

Shall I then strive to quench my jire? 

No ; rather love, and still admire. 
3 
For She Love's proper subject is, 
Who Loves not Her, doth love amiss ! 
I'll love Her, then, and by Her Love, 
So worthy I will hope to prove, 

That She may love what She hath taught, 
And once be catch'' d by what She caught. 

1650. 



384 LETTER VII. 

The following Song is truly humourous. 
Taking up the common idea in love-songs, 
that the eyes of females and their beauties in 
general are all suns and brilliancies, it pursues 
it farther, and supposes that, like the sun, they 
can only be looked at through smoaked glass. 
The following verse from one of the Songs in 
Mr. Evans's Publication, p. 254. may serve as 
an introduction to it : 

Aspasia rolls her sparkling eyes, 

And every bosom feels her power; 
The Indians thus view Phoebus rise, 

And gaze in rapture and adore. 
Quick to the soul the piercing splendors dart, 
Fire every vein, and melt the coidest heart. 

IX. 

THE BLACK SPECTACLES: 

A PROPOSAL TO THE LADIES. 
BY LT. COL. JAMES DALRYMPLE. 



1 

When the Wise-ones incline t' examine the 

Sun, 
They call a smoak'd Glass to their aid, 
Thus ev'ry Danger of Blindness they shun, 
So soften'd his Rays by the shade. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 385 

Our Ladies have now adopted this plan ; 

How much we their Goodness should prize ! 
In place of the moveable skreen of a Fan, 

They veil with a Curtain their Eyes. 

3 
We now, without risk, their Lustre may view I 

Contemplate their Charms at our Ease, 
From Feature to Feature the chace may pursue, 

And fix, on which ever we please. 

4 
For think not 'tis form'd of a close-wov'n stuff, 

No malice their Bosoms could move ! 
Far from it, 'tis thin and transparent enough 

To shew the mild Graces we love. 

5 
But hard for each possible case to provide, 

Since many Freebooters are found, 
By lifting the Head, or a peep o' one side, 

Some eye-shots continue to wound. 

6 
I've thought of a Scheme ; I humbly propose 

Such artful designs to defeat : 
A pair- of black Spectacles plac'd on the Nose 
Will render our safety compleat. 

1789. 

Ll 



386 LETTER VII. 

The following stanzas, taken from CowperN 
Poem on Frienship, from which I have already 
selected some stanzas in the second volume of 
my Collection, may well be ranked among 
Ingenious Songs: they are very spirited, but 
the manner of them is evidently adopted from 
Dr. Watts's Poem, called Few Happy Matches, 
given before, p. 309. 

X. 

FRIENDSHIP. 



I 

A friendship, that in frequent fits 
Of controversial rage emits 

The sparks of disputation, 
Like hand in hand insurance plates, 
Most unavoidably creates 

The thought of conflagration. 

2 

A man renowned for repartee 
Will seldom scruple to make free 

With friendship's finest feeling, 
Will thrust a dagger at your breast, 
And say he wounded you in jest, 

By way of balm for healing. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 387 
3 

Some fickle creatures boast a soul 
True as a needle to the pole. 

Their humour yet so various — 
They manifest their whole life thro' 
The needle's deviations too, 

Their love is so precarious. 

4 
The great and small but rarely meet , 
In terms of amity complete, 

Plebeians must surrender, 
And yield so much to noble folk, 
As is combining fire with smoke, 

Obscurity with splendour. 

5 

Some are so placid and serene 
(As Irish bogs are always green) 

They sleep secure from waking ; 
And are indeed a bog that bears 
Your unparticipated cares 

Unmov'd and without quaking. 

6 

Courtier and patriot cannot mix 
Their heterogeneous politics 

Without an effervescence, 
Like that of salts with lemon juice, 
Which does not yet like that produce 

A friendly coalescence. 



5SS LETTER YII. 

7 
To prove at last ray main intent 
Needs no expence of argument, 

No cutting and contriving — 
Seeking a real friend we seem 
To adopt the chymist's golden dream, 

With still less hope of thriving. 
8 
But 'tis not timber, lead, and stone, 
An architect requires aldne 

To finish a fine building — 
The palace were but half complete, 
If he could possibly forget 

The carving and the gilding. 

9 
The man that hails you Tom or Jack, 
And proves by thumps upon your back 

How he esteems your merit, 
Is such a friend, that one had need 
Be very much his friend indeed 

To pardon or to bear it. 

10 

Some act upon this prudent plan, 
" Say little and hear all you can." 

Safe policy but hateful — 
So barren sands imbibe the shower, 
But render neither fruit nor flower 

Unpleasant and ungrateful. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 389 
11 

These samples — for alas ! at last 
These are but samples, and a taste 

Of. evils yet unmentioned — 
May prove the task a task indeed, 
In which 'tis much if we succeed 

However well-intentioned . 



Burlesque being one species of humour, the 
following is given as a satire on that over-refined 
sensibility ; which feels, where no sympathy is 
required, and withholds it, where duty and 
affection should cherish it. 



XL 
EFFUSION 



A CANDLE 

WHICH WAS SNUFFED TOO LOW. 



1 

Little Candle snufFd too low ! 
Ah ! I felt the cruel blow • 
I saw the ruffian Snuffers rise, 
He mark'd thee for his savage prize, 
l12 



590 



LETTER VII. 



And, stretching wide his sable jaw, 
Gorg'd thee in his hungry maw : 
I feel thy plenitude of woe, — 
Pretty Candle snuff'd too low 1 

2 
Little Candle snuff'd too low ! 
Well thy virtues do I know. 
In thy sorrow-beaming eye 
The starting tear, alas ! I spy ; 
Now in grief you melt away, 
I feel the sympathetic sway, 
Dear sensibility's fine flow, — 
In jur'd Candle snuff'd too low ! 

3 
Little Candle snuff'd too low! 
Do not — Do not leave me so. 
Ah ! thine eye is waxing dim, 
Thy mould so fair, thy form so slim 
Deform'd and haggard now appears, — 
Ah stop ! ah stop ! these scalding tears,- 
Nor out, alas ! despairing go — 
Mournful Candle snuff'd too low ! 



* mine own tears 

Do scald like motten lead. 



King Lear, Act iv. S. 7. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 391 
4 

Little Candle snuff 'd loo low ! 
Now returning life you shew, 
Fire rekindles in thine eye 
No more you heave the burning sigh^ — * 
Now again thy beauties shine, — 
The joy is yours, — the joy is mine, — 
I feel the sympathetic glow, — 
RecoYer'd from thy snuff too low ! 



The two following Songs owe their humour 
chiefly to the stories on which they are 
founded. 

XII. 
THE DUMB BEGGAR. 

1 

For alms and compassion a widow was fam'd, 
And her house was well known to the halt and 

the maim'd, 
With " hand open as day" she would freely 

impart, 
And added her counsel, and felt with her heart. 

* With groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire. 

Twelfth Night, Act i. S. 5. 



392 LETTER VII, 

2 

But her friends sometimes said she encourage- 
ment gave 

To sloth and to vice, not the wretcb, but the 
knave : 

And imposture full often obtain'd the fair mite, 

Which better had sought the poor wretch out 
of sight. 

3 

On crutches she saw a sad object once come, 
With a scroll at his breast, that the wearer was 

dumb, 
For the alms of the friendly he earnestly pray'd, 
And the gift would be amply by Heaven repaid. 

4 

" Alas ! my good friend, thou my pity dost 

claim, 
Ah! where is thy parish; and what is thy 

name ? 
Say how thy misfortunes upon thee have come, 
How long hast thou been thus decrepit and 

dumb?" 

5 

" Alas ! my good lady, how quickly time wears, 
Since first I was taken 'tis now full six years." — 
The tone of compassion the beggar had caught, 
He answer 'd the question without further 
thought. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 393 
6 

" Thou daring impostor," the lady then cried, 

" Is this thy sad story, that thou art tongue- 
tied ! 

Here, John, call the constable, bid him not 
wait, 

To the House of Correction I'll have you borne 
straight." 

7 
From his moment's delusion the beggar awak'd, 
He saw that his all on one effort was stak'd ; 
He had ta'en to his tongue, and his danger he 

feels, 
So was soon out of sight, — for he took to his heels. 

8 
Hence learn, ye, whose hearts love to feel for 

distress, 
Lest, disgusted, you're tempted your alms to 

suppress, 
Learn merely, thus caution'd, your object to 

know, , 

And let Prudence direct you in what you bestow. 



394 LETTER VII. 

XIII. 

THE FRIENDS AND THE OYSTER. 

Tuwe: If a daughter you have, in The Duenna. 



1 
On the sea shore one day as two friends were a 

walking, 
And of this thing and that thing complacently 

talking, 
Just where the ebb'd wave left the shingle the 

raoister, 
They both cast their eyes on a iine well-fed 

Oyster, 

Starting and running, 

Not without cunning, 
Together they seiz'd on this fine well-fed 

Oyster. 

2 
One claim'd it as his, and the other as his, 
To a broad grin succeeded a dismal long phiz, 
Till at length they began to dispute and to 

roister, 
And all for the sake of this line well-fed Oyster, 

Scolding and wrangling, 

Jeering and jangling, 
And all for the sake of this fine well-fed Oyster. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 395 
3 

A brisk Lawyer came by, and beholding the stir, 
He paus'd — they agreed the whole case to refer, 
"I'm fitter," said he, " far than monk in a 

cloister, 
To arbitrate 'twixt you concerning the Oyster." 

Humming and hawing. 

Eying and clawing, 
He went on to arbitrate touching the Oyster. 

4 
The Lawyer look'd wise, " 'twas the custom", 

he said, 
" For the law ne'er to speak were the lawyer 

unpaid, 
The law was supreme, not a mouth that out- 

voic'd her, 
Yet would she decide even on a poor Oyster." — 

Statements then hearing, — 

The matter appearing, — 
Proceeded to arbitrate touching the Oyster. 

5 
He open'd the Oyster, no fool you may think, — 
Shook it into his mouth, down it went in a 

twink, 
And when the friends' eyes look'd as if growing 

moister, 
To each he presented a shell of the Oyster ; 



396 LETTER VII. 

Angry and vexed, 
Chagrin'd and perplexed 
Each only obtain'd a bare shell of the Oyster. 

6 
Attend, all ye friends, — and attend, all ye foes, — 
Hence learn 'twixt yourselves all your strifes to 

compose, 
A recourse to the law when you wrangle and 

roister, 
May probably end like the Friends and the 

Oyster, 

Too much in grasping 

A shadow you're clasping, — 
Ere you fly to the law, sing The Friends 

and the Oyster. 



The humour of the following song consists 
chiefly in making the phrase It is but a proper 
name, and shewing how it is the cause of some 
extravagance and even ruin in the world. 

XIV. 
THE 'TIS BUTS. 

I 

You ask me the secret by which we contrive 
On an income so slender so fairly to thrive ? 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 397 

Why the long and the short of the matter is this, 
We take things as they come, and thus nought 

comes amiss, 
My sons are no sluggards, my daughters no 

sluts, 
And we still keep an eye to the main and 'Tis 

Buts. 

2 
Neighbour Squander's grand treat, — 'tis but so 

much, he says, 
And his wife's fine new gown, — 'tis but so 

much she pays ; 
' Tis but so much the fair, 'tis but so much the 

His child's gew-gaws too, — His but that thrown 

away ; 
But each 'tis but grows on, till they run on so fast, 
That he finds 'tis but coming to want at the 

last. 

3 
Now something occurs, and he says, like a 

ninny, 
I'll buy it at once, for it is but a guinea ; 
And then something else, and he still is more 

willing, 
For it is but a trifle, it is but a shilling : 
m m 



S9S LETTER VII. 

Then it is but a penny, it is but a mite, 
'Till the 9 Tis buts at last sum up — ruin out- 
right. 

4 
But, for my part, I ever these maxims would 

take, 
That a little and little a mickle will make ; 
Take care of the shillings, those vain wand'ring 

elves, 
And the pounds, my good friend, will take 

care of themselves ; 
If you quarter the road, you avoid the great 

ruts, 
And you'll run on quite smooth, if you mind the 

'Tis Buts. 



Contentment's the object at which we should 

aim, 
It is riches and power and honour and fame, 
For our wants and our comforts, in truth, are 

but few, 
And ne'er purchase that thing without which 

you can do ; 
And this maxim of maxims most others, out 

cuts, 
If you'd thrive, keep an eye to the mam, and 

'Tis Buts. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 399 

Another species of the comic Song is that in 
which some speaking is introduced in each 
verse, the music being suspended while that is 
going on. Mr. Dibdin is very happy at this 
kind of Song, and his best are, I think, The 
Auctioneer, The Town Crier, and The Margate 
Hoy, though there are some things in each 
which I wish were altered. 

Another very fruitful source of humour in 
songs is comic rhyme^ a subject upon which you 
have yourself, Sir, touched, both in your Essay 
on Song-writing, p. xix. and in your Letters 
on Poetry, p. 63 and 211. 

No author abounds in these like Butler, in 
his Hudibras,* a great part of the humour of 



* When this Letter was written I believe that the whole of 
my knowledge of Hudibras was from having read the first 
Canto some years ago, and perhaps part of the second ; and 
from having seen and heard particular passages quoted in 
books and in conversation, and which is, certainly, the most 
advantageous manner of relishing the excellencies of the work ; 
as there is a sameness in it, which palls in a continued perusal. 
In the Discourse on Wit and Humour, prefixed to the Second 
Volumeof The Treasury of Wit, by H..Bennet,m. a. p. 
xxxiv. the author says, " I have often thought that a book more 
valuable, and much more delightful, than Hudibras itself, might 
easily he made by extracting all the wit, or half the work, 
and arranging it in alphabetical common places." With this 
view, I have lately read Hudibras through, and itappearsto 
me that the wit is so interwoven with the story that there is but 



400 LETTER tit 



which consists in the grotesque or forced rh yme* 
For it seems to be in this, as in comic wit, thaX 
some degree of surprise is necessary to occasion 
delight ; some word is given to which we do 
not expect that a rhyme can readily be found, 
or some word is produced to rhyme to it, which 
requires some degree of management, some 
little force or violence, to pronounce it so as to 
produce any thing like a similarity of sound, 
between which and its accustomed pronun- 
ciation, there is so much contrast as to excite 



a small portion of it which could stand by itself. But there is 
much profaneness, indecency and grossness throughout the work, 
that, were the exceptionable passages omitted, it would be*not 
only improved in that respect, but be less tiresome in the 
perusal. 

Having mentioned The Treasury of Wit it appears not 
to be irrelevant to the general design of this work to notice that 
it is one of those works, the execution of which does not answer 
the professed design. The Editor says of himself in his Pre- 
face, p, xvii. " Above all, be has been careful to admit 
nothing of that obscenity and impiety which often stain works 
of this kind. That obscenity and blasphemy are not wit, is 
as true as trite; for any fool may speak either, and the 
laughter is always at the speaker, not at the speech. Not a / 
word will be found in this work, that a virgin may not read to a 
company withouteitber blush, or fear of blushing." That this 
Collection is one of the best of the kind that I have seen, I am 
very ready to allow, but there appear to me to be several 
instances of indecency and impiety, which are not fit to be read 
either to a company or by any one to himself. (Feb. 12, 1811.) 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 401 

the sensation experienced from the ridiculous : 
as in the following instances, 

And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic, 

Was beat with fist instead of a stick. Canto i. 1. 11. 

i 
A wight he was, whose very sight would 
Entitle him mirror of Knighthood. Do. 1. 15. 

That Latin was no more difficile, 

Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle. Do. 1.53. 

Beside he was a shrewd philosopher, 

And had read every text and gloss over. Do. 1. 127. 

This seems to be a favourite word with Butler 
to make a rhyme to, we have it frequently 
besides : 

A deep occult philosopher, 

As learn' d as the Wild Irish are. Do. 1. 537. 

For, as some late philosophers 

Have well observ'd, beasts that converse 

With man take after him. — Do. 1. 789. 

There was an ancient sage philosopher 

That had read Alexander Ross over. Canto ii. 1. 1. 

Whatever sceptic could inquire for, 

For ev'ry why he had a wherefore. Canto i. 1. 131. 

This hairy meteor did denounce 

The fall of sceptres and of crowns. Do. 1. 247. 

Tho' it contributed its own fall, 

To wait upon the public do wnfal. Do. I. 255. 

If any yet be so fool-hardy, 

T' expose themselves to vain jeopardy. Do. 1, 695. 

MHl2 



402 LETTER VII. 

When he's engag'd, and takes no notice, 

If any press upon him, who 'tis. Do. I. 701. 

Great actions are not always true sons 

Of great and mighty resolutions. Do. 1. 885. 

You mention the comic rhymes of Swift as 
being superior to those of Butler, (Letters on 
Poetry, p. 241.) a few of them shall be given, 
though it is difficult to find a poem of his of the 
humourous kind to which reference can be made 
with propriety. His Rhapsody On Poetry is 
perhaps as little liable to exception as any with 
which I am acquainted : 

And here a simile comes pat in : 

Though Chickens take a month to fatten, &c. 

In modern wit all printed trash is 
Set off with numerous breaks— and dashes- 
Convey by penny-post to Lintot, 
But let no friend alive look into 't. 

For you can ne'er be too far gone 
In all our modern critics jargon. 

Read all the prefaces of Dryden, 
And these our critics much confide in. 

A forward critic often dupes us 
With sham quotations, peri hupsous: 
And, if we have not read Longinus, 
Will magisterially out-shine us. 
Then lest with Greek he over-run ye, 
Procure the book for love or money, &c. 

Complain, as many an ancient bard did, 
How genius is no more rewarded. 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 403 

Yet what the world refused to Lewis,. 
Applied to George, exactly true is. 
Exactly true! invidious poet ! 
'Tis rifty thousand times below it. 
Translate me now some lines, if you can, 
From Virgil, Martial, Ovid, Lucan. 

It strikes me that something of the same kind 
of sensation, a surprize and pleasure is excited 
if the rhyme be particularly apt, if it comes 
pat in; as in the following instances from the 
same poem : 

While every fool his claim alledges, 
As if it grew in common hedges* 

And how agreeably surpriz'd 
Are you to see it advertiz'd I 

Be silent as a politician, 

For talking may beget suspicion. 

You lose your credit all at once ; 
The town will mark you for a dunce. 

Or like a bridge that joints a marish 
To moorlands of a different parish. 

His humble senate this professes 

In all their speeches, votes, addresses. 

And each perfection long imputed, 
Is fully at his death confuted. 

Judicious Rymer oft review, 
Wise Dennis, and profound Bossu. 

You raise the honour of the peerage, 
Proud to attend you at the steerage. 



404 LETTER VII. 

The rhymes in Garrick's Epigram on Dr. 
Hill are very happy •. 

XXI. 

For physic and farces, 
His equal there scarce is; 
His farces are physic, 
His physic a farce is. 

The bad rhymes in the Epigram on Foote and 
Quin, given before, (p. 363.) add to the general 
effect of the piece. On this ground I trust the 
rhymes in the Song of The Onion, in the first 
volume of my collection, p. 342. may be 
defended. 

A compound rhyme is introduced in a song in 
your Vocal Poetry, (p. 237.) The subject is 
light, but it does not appear sufficiently hu- 
mourous to admit the comic rhyme : 

Friendship of another kind is, &c. 
Love, one grain is worth the Indies. 

In Congreve's song u Tell me no more I am 
deceiv'd, 1 ' (Essays on Song- Writing, p. 209.) 
we have the triple rhymes of common — woman 
and no man — and hard thing— farthing and 
bargain. 

The Song of The Tight Little Island is 
very good in its comic rhymes, and with a few 
alterations would be an excellent Song. I have 
been informed on good authority that it was a 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 405 

favourite with the late amiable Bishop of London, 
who used to repeat the burden of it with great 
satisfaction. The Friends and the Oyster, given 
before, p. 394. contains some comic rhymes. 

The effect of these rhymes is heightened 
when still farther violence is done to a word, as 
where it is divided, and one or more syllables 
put at the end of one line as a rhyme, and the 
other, or the remainder carried on to the begin- 
ning of the next, as in that admirable burlesque 
Song, in the play of The Rovers, in the Poetry 
of the Anti-Jacobin : 

VERSE 5- 
There first for thee my passion grew, 

Sweet! sweet Matilda Poitingen! 
Thou wast the daughter of my Tu — 
— tor, Law Professor at the TJ — 
— Diversity of Goitiugen— 
— Diversity of Gottingea. 

6. 

Sun, moon, and thou vain world, adieu* 
That kings and priests are plotting in: 
Here doom"d to starve on water gru — 
— el never shall I see the U — 
— Diversity of Gottingen — 
— Diversity of Gottingen. 

The compound rhyme has been sometimes ad- 
mitted into serious Songs, where, if it be suffered 
to pass, it certainly is not desirable. Collins 
introduces into his Date Obolum Bellisario: 



406 LETTER VII. 

As the wise, great and good of thy frowns seldom 'scape aay, 
Witness brave Bellisarius who begg'd for a half-penny. 

This would occasion a laugh , did not the 
subject and the tune repress it. Again, 

But each conquest I gain'd, I made friend and foe know, 
That my soul's only aim was pro publico bono. 

In the Song of The Pilgrim, by Banyan, in 
his Pilgrim's Progress, (see my Collection, 
Vol. ii. p. 333.) a compound rhyme is intro- 
duced which would be much more in its place 
in a humourous composition : 

Whoso beset him round 

With dismal stones, 
Do but themselves confound, 

His strength the more is. 

Of no species of Song does there appear to 
me to be so few good specimens as of the Comic. 
Of those sung upon the stage, many depend 
upon the mere buffoonery of the performer for 
effect. Such, chiefly, were those written for 
the late Edwin, and other performers. Many 
of them are indelicate, and some very gross ; 
and many are upon subjects equally improper, 
as making fun of the natural infirmities of 
persons, which is the subject of one of the 
Songs in The Children in the Wood. Collins's 
are of a better kind, though they want much 
correcting. He is deficient in refinement, and 



INGENIOUS AND HUMOUROUS SONGS. 407 

is sometimes gross and even profane. Mr. 
Dibdin's Comic Songs are, in my estimation, 
among our very best; though his, like the 
laurel, would flourish more under the pruning 
knife : I wish it could be said of Mr. D., as of 
the laurel, that he " loves the knife.". His 
Comic Songs have generally instruction, as 
well as wit and humour. 

I am, Sir, with great respect, 
Your &c. 



408 
LETTER Till. 

SACEED SONGS. 

Clare Hall. November 26, 1810. 



SIR, 



Having closed each of my former volumes of 
Songs with a class of Sacred Songs, I feel 
unwilling to bring this to a conclusion without 
giving some few specimens of compositions in the 
highest style, namely addresses to the Deity in 
whom € * we live and move and have our being", 
Acts xvii. 28. to whom we look for succour in 
our spiritual life in this world, and for everlasting 
happiness in the world to come. To enter upon 
a discussion of the excellence of Sacred Poetry 
and the requisites for it would lead me far 
beyond the limits which I must now prescribe 
myself; and, for the advantage of such of my 
readers as may wish to see something upon the 
subject, I will merely refer them to Dr. Watts's 
Preface to his Horae Lyricae and the authors 
he there mentions. After noticing those Chris- 
tians who (i imagine that poetry and vice are 
naturally a kin ; or at least, that verse is only fit 
to recommend trifles, and entertain our looser 
hours, but is too light and trivial a method to 



SACRED SONGS. 409 

treat any thing that is serious and sacred", he says 
U They submit, indeed, to use it in divine 
psalmody, but they love the driest translation of 
the psalms the best." He then produces some of 
the most sublime and beautiful passages from the 
sacred writings, and adds, " Who is there now 
will dare to assert, that the doctrines of our 
holy faith will not indulge or endure a delight- 
ful dress ?" and quotes a passage from Rapin's 
Reflections upon Eloquence, in which he says, 
that " the majesty of our religion ; the holiness 
of its laws, the purity of its morals, the height 
of its mysteries, and the importance of every 
subject that belongs to it requires a grandeur, a 
nobleness, a majesty, and elevation of style 
suited to the theme : sparkling images and 
magnificent expressions must be used, and are 
best borrowed from scripture : let the preacher, 
that aims at eloquence, read the prophets inces- 
santly, for their writings are an abundant source 
of all the riches and ornaments of speech." 

Another passage, from Mrs. Barbauld's 
Thoughts on the Devotional Taste, shall be all 
I will add on this subject before I produce my 
specimens : " It is the character of the present 
age to allow little to sentiment, and all the warm 
and generous emotions are treated as romantic 
by the supercilious brow of a cold-hearted 

n n 



410 LETTER VIII. 

philosophy. The man of science, with an air 
of superiority, leaves them to some florid 
declaimer who professes to work upon the pas- 
sions of the lower class, where they are so 
debased by noise and nonsense, that it is no 
wonder if they move disgust in those of elegant. 
and better informed minds. Yet there is a 
devotion generous, liberal, and humane, the 
child of more exalted feelings than base minds 
can enter into, which assimilates man to higher 
natures, and lifts him " above this visible 
diurnal sphere." Its pleasures are ultimate, 
and when early cultivated continue vivid even 
in that uncomfortable season of life when some 
of the passions are extinct, when imagination is 
dead, and the heart begins to contract within 
itself. Those who want this taste, want a sense, 
a part of their nature, and should not presume 
to judge of feelings to which they must ever be 
strangers. No one pretends to be a judge in 
poetry or the fine arts, who has not both a 
natural and a cultivated relish for them ; and 
shall the narrow-minded children of earth 
absorbed in low pursuits, dare to treat as 
visionary, objects which they have never made 
themselves acquainted with ? Silence on such 
subjects will better become them." P. 3. 



SACKED SONGS. 411 

I. 

JUBILEE HYMN, 

FOR THE 25TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 1809* 

ON WHICH HIS MAJESTY ENTERED ON THE FIFTIETH YEAR 
OF HIS REIGN. 

BY THE REV. LEIGH RICHMOND. 



1 

Ye Christians, who dwell in Britannia's fair isle, 

Which our God has long bless'd with his pros- 
perous smile, 

Fill the Courts of the Lord, at your Sovereign's 
command, 

For the Jubilee trumpet resounds through the 
land. 

2 

? Tis Gratitude's voice tliat proclaims the glad 

day!— 
Shall the soul that fears God, the high call 

disobey ? 
On the watch-towers of Israel we'll each take 

our stand, 
For the Jubilee trumpet resounds through the 

land. 



4 IS LETTER Till, 

3 

We thank thee, O God, for the blessings 

we've prov'd, 
In the long-lengthen'd reign of a Monarch so 

lov'd; 
With loud gratulation we join in one band, 
For the Jubilee trumpet resounds through the 

land. 

4 

Whilst our Monarch the sceptre of Britain has 
sway'd, 

Religion and Truth happy progress have made ; 

We confess this support of thy merciful hand, 

Now the Jubilee trumpet resounds through the 
land. 

5 

Distant Africa's sons shall unite heart and voice, 

For her chains are no more — let her freemen 
rejoice — 

They shall echo the chorus that freedom de- 
mands, 

For the Jubilee trumpet resounds through both 

lands. 

6 

Whilst our offerings of mercy we cheerfully 

bring, 
'Tis our heart's supplication, O God, save the 

King! 



SACRED SONGS. 413 

On thy church and thy people, a blessing 

command, 
For the Jubilee trumpet resounds through the 

land. 

Fear God, honour the King.— 1 Pet. ii. 17. 



II. 

AN ODE 

ON HIS MAJESTY'S ILLNESS, 

1789. 

BY ANNE FRANCIS. 
1 

Long fix'd in this rural retreat, 

To pleasures domestic confin'd, 
No troubles, I thought, of the great 

Could ruffle the calm of my mind : 
Each morning contented I rose, 

And blest the return of the light ; 
At even prepar'd for repose, 

And quietly slept thro' the night. 
2 
The moments thus glided away, 

Reliev'd by the Muse, with a song ; 
So cheerfully pass'd the long day, 

That I never once thought it too long ; 
N n2 



414 LETTER V11I. 

For friendship, with love in her train, 
Enraptured the moments that flew ; 

And the forest and furze-skirted plain 
Were objects still dear to the view. 

3 
But, ah ! what sad tidings I hear ! 

With anguish I list to the tale! 
My eye is surcharg'd with a tear, 

And I sigh to the sorrowing gale ! 
The heart that is human must mourn, 

The tear of compassion will flow : 
Will the bright-sun of healing return — • 

To gild this horizon of woe ? 

4 
O, Lord of soft mercy, attend ! 

The ragings of frenzy controul, 
Bid the beams of refreshment descend, 

And relume the dark sphere of his soul ! 
In pity — oh ! hear us complain ! 

In mercy — attend to our prayer ! 
Assist him his woes to sustain, 

And shield his sad mind from despair ! 

5 
O, listen awhile to the lay, — 

The motive that prompts me to sing 
Is the homage affection would pay — 

To the man whom I love as my King 1 



SACRED SONGS. 415 

How sweet are the tones of the lyre — 

When duty engages the song ! 
When gratitude breathes on the wire, 

And wafts the soft measures along ! 

6 

The forest and furze-skirted plain 

No longer afford me delight ; 
The landscape is varied in vain, 

The objects grow dim on the sight : 
I feel for the woes of the great, 

My heart is with anguish opprest ; 
No language, alas ! can relate 

The sorrow that saddens my breast. 

7 ■ 
May the bright-sun of healing return ! 

The source of sweet-comfort descend ! 
Our hearts shall with gratitude burn, 
Till life, and till gratitude end : 
Then, aloft in the mansions of air 

Enraptur'd we'll strike the bold strings — 
Loud Anthems of glory prepare — 
To the Lord — the protector of Kings. 



416 LETTER VIII. 

III. 

AN ODE 

ON HIS MAJESTY'S RECOVERY, 
1789. 

BY THE SAME. 
TtiNE : The Hymn of Eve. 

1 

Sound, Lute, the sweet concords of praise! 

Enraptur'd I strike the bold string, 
Loud Anthems of gratitude raise, 

For God has restor'd us our King ! 
Pale Faction in solitude mourns ! 

Leave the tears of her Minions to flow,; 
The bright sun of healing returns, 

And gilds the horizon of woe. 

2 

See, the Monarch from languor arise ! 

He bends at the footstool of grace ; 
Fair gratitude beams from his eyes, 

And devotion illumines his face ! 
See the circle of virtue attend, 

With looks of complacence and love \ 
Their raptures like incense ascend — 

And Angels record them above. 



SACilED SONGS. 417 

3 

What bosom but throbs with delight, 

When fancy presents to the mind 
The Pair whom such virtues unite, — 

The blessing, and joy of mankind I 
O ! long may the God they adore 

Grant life, unimpair'd by alloy ! 
When life is a blessing no more — 

Transport them, to mansions of joy ! 

4 

O Lord of sweet mercy, to thee — 

With fervent devotion I sing ; 
My spirit, exalted and free, 

Exults in the praise of my King ! 
O, grant, that a subject's faint pray'r 

May reach thy celestial abode ! 
Wing the theme thro' the regions of air y 

And give it access to my God. 

5 
To devotion He temper'd the clay 

Embellish'd and form'd by his hand, — 
Soon the mind caught the heav'nly ray. 

And, instant, began to expand ; 
Devotion enraptur'd the tongue, 

The passions confess'd its controul, — 
And blest were the transports that sprung 

All warm and direct from the soul ! 



418 LETTER VIII. 

6 

Now bless'd be the God we adore ! 

Who pours down his balm from above ! 
Who smites in displeasure no more — 

But turns with refreshment and love : 
The boon shall our gratitude raise, 

And urge, in full chorus, to sing, — , 
Till the forest, made vocal with praise, 

Re-echo with — Gob Save the King. 



IV. 
AN ODE, 

SUNG AT EDGEFIELD CHURCH, NORFOLK, BY THE SCHOLARS 
OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, ON THE 23D OF APRIL, 1789. 

BEING THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING FOR 
HIS MAJESTY'S RECOVERY. 

BY THE SAME. 
1 

Britons, your voices raise, 
Sound the full chords of praise, 

Strike the loud string : 
Let's in full chorus join, 
To our great God, benign, 
Who bids his mercy shine 

On George our King. 



SACRED SONGS. 419 

2 

O Lord, our God, attend, — 
While the pure themes ascend 

On raptur'd wing ; 
Accept the grateful strain ; 
Long may our Monarch reign, 
Exempt from care and pain — 

Long live the King. 
3 
Hark ! the long aisle rebounds ! 
Raise the seraphic sounds, 

Hosannas sing ! 
Join, ye attentive throng — 
Swell the ecstatic song, 
With notes sublime, and strong — 

To God, our King. 



V. 
THANKSGIVING HYMN 

; FOR THE KING'S RECOVERY, 

1789. 

BY G. W. LEMON JUN. 
1 

Oh, God of comfort! deign 
To hear the humble strain 
Which now we sing ; 



420 LETTER VIH. 

Kneeling before thy throne, 
Let us that mercy own, 
Which thou hast lately shewn 
To our blest King. 

Grant him in peace and wealth, 
Long to enjoy his health, — 

God save the King. 
O let thy mighty arm 
Shield him from ev'ry harm, 
O save from each alarm, 

George, our blest King. 

o 
O 

Here, while to thee we bend, 
Lord ! let thy grace descend 

On silver wing ! 
Let our glad hearts express 
Our grateful happiness ; 
Grant we may long possess 

Great George, our King. 

4 
Laud Him, who once again 
Rais'd from the bed of pain 

Our gracious King ! 
Praise ! — Praise the Lord on high, 
Sound his name to the sky, 
And let all voices cry 

Long live the King ! I 



SACRED SONGS. 421 

VI. 

1 WILL PRAISE THE LORD 
AT ALL TIMES. 

CY COWPER. 
I 

Winter has a joy for me, 

While Xhe Saviour's charms I read, 

Lowly, meek, from blemish free, 
In the snow-drop's pensive head. 

2 

Spring returns, and brings along 

Life-invigorating suns : 
Hark ! the turtle's plaintive song, 

Seems to speak his dying groans ! 

3 
Summer has a thousand charms, 

All expressive of his worth ; 
'Tis his sun that lights and warms, 

His the air that cools the earth. 

4 
What, has Autumn left to say 

Nothing of a Saviour's grace ? 
Yes, the beams of milder day 
Tell me of his smiling face, 
o o 



4:22 LETTER VIII. 

5 

Light appears with early dawn ; 

While the sun makes haste to rise, 
See his bleeding beauties drawn 

On the blushes of the skies. 



Ev'ning, with a silent pace, 
Slowly moving in the west, 

Shews an emblem of his grace. 
Points to an eternal rest. 



VII. 
THE THUNDER-STORM. 

BY JAMES MONTGOMERY. 



1. 

O for Evening's brownest shade! 

Where the breezes play by stealth 
In the forest-cinctur'd glade, 

Round the hermitage of Health : 
While the noon-bright mountains blaze 
In the sun's tormenting rays. 



SACRED SONGS. 423 

2 

O'er the sick and sultry plains, 

Through the dim delirious air, 
Agonizing silence reigns, 

And the wanness of despair : 
Nature faints with fervent heat, 
Ah ! her pulse hath ceas'd to beat ! 

3 
Now in deep and dreadful gloom, 

Clouds on clouds portentous spread, 
Black as if the day of doom 

Hung o'er Nature's shrinking head: 
Lo! the lightning breaks from high, 
— God is coming ! — God is nigh ! 

4 
Hear ye not his chariot wheels, 

As the mighty thunder rolls ? 
Nature, startled Nature reels. 

From the centre to the poles : 
Tremble ! — Ocean, Earth, and Sky ! 

Tremble ! — God is passing by ! 
5 
Darkness, wild with horror, forms 

His mysterious hiding-place ; 
Should He, from his ark of storms, 

Rend the veil and shew his face, 
At the judgment of his eye, 
All the universe would die. 



424 LETTER VIII. 

6 

Brighter, broader lightnings flash. 

Hail and rain tempestuous fall : 
Louder deeper thunders crash, 

Desolation threatens all ; 
Struggling Nature grasps for breath 
In the agony of death. 
7 
God of Vengeance ! from above. 

While thine awful bolts are hurl'd, 
O remember TIigu art Love ! 

Spare ! O spare a guilt y world ! 
Stay Thy flaming wrath awhile, 
See Thy bow of promise smile I 

8 
Welcome, in the eastern cloud, 

Messenger of Mercy still ! 
Now, ye winds ! proclaim aloud, 

" Peace on Earth, to Man good wilU ,r 
Nature! God's repenting child, 
See thy Parent reconciled ! 

9 
PI ark ! the nightingale, afar, 

Sweetly sings the sun to rest y 
And awakes the evening star 

In the rosy-tinted west : 
While the moon's enchanting eye 
Opens Paradise on high ! 



SACRED SONGS. 425 

10 

Cool and tranquil is the night, 
Nature's sore afflictions cease, 

For the storm, that spent its might, 
Was a covenant of peace : 

Vengeance drops her harmless rod ! 

Mercy is the POWER OF GOD ! 



VIII. 
CHARITY. 

BY MRS. BARBAULD. 



1 

Behold, where, breathing love divine, 

Oar dying master stands ! 
His weeping follow 'rs gath'ring round, 

Receive his last commands. 

2 

From that mild Teacher's parting lips 

What tender accents fell ! 
The gentle precept which he gave 

Became its author well. 
oo2 



426 LETTER VIII. 

3 

Blest is the man, whose soft'ning heart 

Feels for another's pain ; 
To whom the supplicating eye 

Was never rais'd in vain : 



4 

Whose breast expands with gen'rous warmth 

A stranger's woes to feel ; 
And bleeds in pity o'er the wound 

He wants the pow'r to heal. 



He spreads his kind supporting arms 

To ev'ry child of grief; 
His secret bounty largely flows, 

And brings unask'd relief. 

6 

To gentle offices of love 

His feet are never slow ; 
He views thro' mercy's melting eye 

A brother in a foe. 



Peace from the bosom of his God, 

My peace to him I give ; 
And when he kneels before the throne 

His trembling soul shall live. 




SACRED SONGS. 427 

8 
To him protection shall be shewn, 

And mere j from above 
Descend on those who thus fulfil 

The perfect law of love. 



IX. 
A REFLECTION. 

BY WM. HOLLOWAY. 



In the midst of Life we are in Death. 



1 

E'en in the midst of life and hope. 

Dependent on a breath, 
To buoy a frail existence up, 

Are we, alas ! in death. 
2 
The weary day of Age must close 

In evening shadows soon ; 
And those on whom the morning rose, 

May never see the noon. 

l s 

The sturdiest heart, at length o'ertir'd, 

Obtains its long release ; 
And number'd out each pulse required, 

Shall throb itself to peace. 



428 LETTER VIII. 

4 

The finest fibre of the brain, 

Distorted or opprest ; 
The valve of one life-streaming vein 

Obstructed in the breast, 

5 
Then, not by art to be repair'd, 

To dust, from whence it came — 
Its virtues, birth, nor titles spar'd, 

Down sinks this fragile frame. 

6 
Lord ! shall the creature of a day, — 

The insect of an hour, 
The vanity of pride betray, 

Or insolence of pow'r ? 

7 
The nameless ills that sweep away 

This perishable dust, 
Should teach Humanity to stay 

On earth no more its trust. 

8 
O ! to anticipate that bliss 

Be hope and faith employ 'd, 
Where souls a body shall possess, 

That ne'er can be destroy'd. 



S A CUED SONGS. 429 

X 
THE. DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 



I 

Sweet is the scene when Virtue dies. 
When sinks a righteous soul to rest ; 

How mildly beam the closing eyes ! 
How gently heaves th' expiring breast ! 



So fades a summer cloud away : 

So sinks the gale when storms are o'er z 

So gently shuts the eye of day : 
So dies a wave along the shore.- 

3 
Triumphant smiles the victor brow, 

Fann'd by some angel's purple wing. 
O Grave ! where is thy vict'ry now ? 

Invidious Death ! where is thy sting ? 

4 

A holy quiet reigns around ; 

A calm which nothing can destroy ; 
Nought can disturb that peace profound, 

Which their unfetter'd souls enjoy. 



430 LETTER VIII. 

5 

Farewell ! conflicting joys and fears, 

Where lights and shades alternate dwell ! 
How bright th' unchanging morn appears ! 

Farewell ! inconstant World ! Farewell ! 
6 
Its duty done, as sinks the day, 

Light from its load, the spirit Hies ! 
While Heaven and Earth combine to say, 

" Sweet is the scene when Virtue dies." 






XI. 
THE CHRISTIAN'S RESURRECTION, 



BY ADDISON. 



1 

When rising from the bed of death 5 
O'erwhelm'd with guilt and fear, 

I see my Maker face to face, 
O how shall I appear ! 

If jet while pardon may be found, 
And mercy may be sought, 

My heart with inward horror shrinks, 
And trembles at the thought ; 



SACRED SONGS. 431 

3 

When thou, O Lord, shalt stand disclos'd 

In Majesty severe, 
And sit in Judgment on my soul, 

O how shall I appear ! 

4 
But thou hast told the troubled mind, 

Who does her sins lament, 
The timely tribute of her tears 

Shall endless woes prevent. 

5 

Then see the sorrows of my heart, 

Ere yet it be too late ; 
And hear a Saviour's dying groans 

To give those sorrows weight. 

6 

For never shall my soul despair 

Her pardon to procure, 
Who knows thy only Son has dy'd 

To make her pardon sure. 



LETTER VIII. 
XII. 

EVENING HYMN. 

BY SIR THOMAS BROWN. 



1 

The night is come like to the day ; 
Depart not thou, great God, away., 
Let not my sins, black as the night. 
Eclipse the lustre of thy light. 
Keep still in my horizon ; for to me 
The sun makes not the day, but Thee, 

2 
Thou, whose nature cannot sleep, 
On my temples sentry keep ; 
Guard me 'gainst those watchful foes, 
Whose eyes are open while mine close. 
Let no dreams my head infest, 
But such as Jacob's temples blest. 

3 
While I do rest, my soul advance. 
And make my sleep a holy trance ; 
That I may, my rest being wrought. 
Awake into some holy thought; 
And, with an active vigour, run 
My course, as doth the nimble sun. 






SACRED SONGS. 433 

4 
Sleep is a death, O make me try, 
By sleeping, what it is to die ; 
And as gently lay my head 
On my grave as now my bed. 
Howe'er I rest, great God, let me 
Awake again at last with thee. 

5 
And, thus assur'd, behold I lie 
Securely, or to wake or die. 
These are my drowsy days ; in vain 
I do now wake to sleep again : 
O come that hour, when I shall never 
Sleep again, but wake forever. 



XIII. 
AN EVENING HYMN. 

BY JAMES HOGG. 



1 

O Thou, whose glory shines sublime 
In morning's dawn or evening skies, 

Who, since the bud of fading time, 
Mad'st evening fall and morning rise 
pp 



434 LETTER Till. 

2 

That Thou art great, these glowing spheres 
To every studious eye must shew ; 

That Thou art good as well appears 
In every field and mountain's brow, 

3 

That hand, which pois'd the orbs that sail 
Around yon sky of purest blue ; 

That hand hath made this lowly vale, 
And on it shed the evening dew. 

I see Thee in the stars that soar 
Slow beaming o'er the southern sea, 

As well as in the bounteous store 
That flows to nature and to me. 

5 

The music of the vernal grove, 

Borne on the breeze, is all of Thee, 

As well as sacred choirs above 

Who in thy presence bow the knee. 

6 

In Thee the insects live and move, 
In Thee yon suns and planets shine, 

All rest in thy upholding love, 

Great Soul of nature ! Power Divine ! 



ftACRED SONGS. 435 

7 

While musing on thy marvellous might, 
Display'd in yonder starry frame, 

Direct the fair impression right, 
And teach me to adore Thy Name. 



XIV. 
HYMN 

FOR SHEEP-SHEARING. 
ISAIAH LIII. 7, 5. 



1 

When, dumb, beneath the shearer's hand, 
The patient sheep extended lies, 

The Prophet's words I understand, 
Who speaks of Christ's blest sacrifice. 

2 

As Lamb unto the slaughter brought, 
From spot and blemish wholly free, 

With that dear blood my life was bought, 
He died a sacrifice for me. 



436 LETTER VIII. 

3 

For our transgressions was he slain, 

With his dread stripes we all are heal'ch 
For us he died, and rose again, 

And thus the Gospel-light reveal'd. 
4 
All, who in him shall righteous prove, 

He, at the latest day, shall raise, 
To live with him in endless love, 

And join the blest in songs of praise. 

J. P. 



XV. 
CHRIST IN THE MANGER. 

BY CHRISTOPHER SMART. 
INTRODUCED INTO THE ORATORIO OF REDEMPTION, 



1 

Where is this stupendous stranger, 
Swains of Solyma, advise ; 

Lead me to my master's manger ; 
Shew me where my Saviour lies. 



SACRED SONGS. 437 

2 
Oh ! most mighty, Oh ! most holy, 
Far above the Seraphs' thought, 
Art thou then so meek and lowly 
As unheeded prophets taught ? 

3 
Oh I the magnitude of meekness, 

Worth from Worth immortal sprung ; 
Oh ! the strength of infant weakness, 

If Eternal is so young ! 

4 
God all-bounteous, all-creative, 

Whom no ills from good dissuade, 
Is incarnate, and a native 

Of the very world he made. 



XVI. 
THE REDEEMER. 



I 

Mighty God ! while Angels bless thee, 
May an infant lisp thy name ? 

Lord of men as well as Angels, 
Thou art ev'ry creature's theme. 
pp2 



438 LETTER VIII. 

2 

Lord of ev'ry land and nation, 

Ancient of eternal days ! 
Sounded thro' the wide creation 

Be thy just and lawful praise. 

3 
For the grandeur of thy nature, 

Grand beyond a Seraph's thought; 
For created works of power, 

Works with skill and kindness wrought ; 

4 
For thy providence, that governs 

Thro' thy empire's wide domain ; 
Wings an Angel, guides a sparrow, 

Blessed be thy gentle reign. 

5 

But thy rich, thy free redemption, 
Dark thro' brightness all along ; 

Thought is poor, and poor expression, 
Who can sing that awful song ? 

6 

Did Arch-angels sing thy coming ? 

Did the shepherds learn their lays ? 
Shame would cover me ungrateful, 

Should my tongue refuse to praise. 



SACRED SONGS. 439 

7 
Brightness of thy Father's glory! 

Shall thy praise unutter'd lie ? 
Fly, my tongue, such guilty silence, 

Sing the Lord who came to die. 

8 
From the highest throne in glory, 

To the cross of deepest woe, 
All to ransom guilty captives — 

Flow, my praise, forever flow. 

9 
Go, return, immortal Saviour, 

Leave thy footstool, take thy throne ; 
Thence return, and reign forever, 

Be the kingdom all thine own. 



XVII. 
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, 

A HYMN, 

FR0M THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL, 
1 

That day of wrath, that dreadful day, 
When heaven and earth shall pass away, 
What power shall be the sinner's stay ? 
How shall he meet that dreadful day ? 



440 LETTER VIII. 

2 

When, shrivelling like a parched scroll, 
The flaming heavens together roll ; 
When louder yet, and yet more dread, 
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead ; 

3 

O ! on that day ! that wrathful clay, 
When man to judgment wakes from clay, 
Be Thou the trembling sinner's stay, 
Though heaven and earth shall pass away ! 



XVIII. 
BEFORE JEHOVAH'S AWFUL THRONE. 

BY THE REV. G. WHITEFIELD. 
Tune: Denmark* 



1 

Before Jehovah's awful throne, 
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy, 

Know that the Lord is God alone, 
He can create, and he destroy. 



SACRED SONGS. 441 

2 

His sov'reign pow'r, without oar aid, 

Made us of clay and form'd us men, 
And when like wand'ring sheep we stray'd, 

He brought us to his fold again. 
3 
We'll croud thy gates with thankful Songs, 

High as the heav'ns our voices raise, 
And earth with her ten thousand tongues 

Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise. 
4 
Wide as the world is thy command, 

Vast as eternity thy love, 
Firm as a rock thy truth must stand 

When rolling years must cease to move. 



XIX. 

THE LORD'S PRAYER. 

BY DR. ADAMS, 

MASTER OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
1 

Father of all ! be thou alone 
In heaven and earth ador'd ! 

Earth is thy footstool, heav'n thy throne, 
Thou universal Lord I 



442 letter vnr, 

2 
What pow'r to praise thee, and obey 7 

Thy grace to man hath giv'n, 
That praise and duty let him pay, 

'Till earth resemble heav'n. 

3 
This day be bread and peace our lot : 

All else beneath the sun 
Thou know'st if best bestow'd or not ; 

And let thy will be done.* 
4 
Thy love expecting, let us love, 

Reliev'd, let us relieve : 
Thy pity let our pity move ; 

Forgive, as we forgive. 
5 
When from without temptations come r 

Or lusts inflame within, 
Thy grace descend, and save us from 

The greatest evil, sin. 
6 
Supreme in power I all nature waits 

Obedient at thy call ! 
O first ! O last ! for thought too great, 

O source and end of all ! 



* This verse is from Pope's Universal Prayer, See Vol. % of 
my Collection, p. 416. 






SACRED SONGS. 443 

XX. 

GOD EXALTED ABOVE ALL PRAISE. 

BY DR. WATTS. 



Eternal Power ! whose high abode 
Becomes the grandeur of a God ; 
Infinite length beyond the bounds 
Where stars revolve their little rounds. 

2 
The lowest step above thy seat 
Rises too high for Gabriel's feetj 
In vain the tall arch-angel tries 
To reach thine height with wond'ring eyes. 

3 

Thy dazzling beauties whilst he sings 
He hides his face behind his wings ; 
And ranks of shining thrones around 
Fall worshipping, and spread the ground. 



4 

Lord, what shall earth and ashes do ? 
We would adore our Maker too ; 
From sin and dust to thee we cry, 
" The Great, the Holy, and the High !" 



444 LETTER VIII. 

5 

Earth from afar has heard thy fame, 
And worms have learnt to lisp thy name ; 
But O ! the glories of thy mind 
Leave all our soaring thoughts behind. 

6 

God is in heaven, and men below ; 
Be short, our tunes ; our words be few ; 
A sacred reverence checks our songs, 
And praise sits silent on our tongues. 



And, now, Sir, in concluding, I wish to 
express sentiments which, I trust, will accord 
with those in my first letter. Well aware of the 
extreme difficulty of writing controversy so as 
to keep within the bounds which should ever be 
prescribed to the gentleman and the Christian, 
I have endeavoured to " set a watch" — 
" before my mouth, and keep the door of my 
lips." Psalm cxli. 3. But, if, in the course of 
these letters, written at different times, and under 
various circumstances of health, of spirits and of 
business, any expression shall have escaped 
which may give offence to you, I intreat you to 
impute it to any other motive, rather than to 
disrespect, or to want of Christian love. That 



SACRED SONGS. 445 

I disapprove the work in question is the cir- 
cumstance which has given rise to these letters 
and to the expressions of disapprobation which it 
has been necessary to employ. These, how- 
ever, I am well aware it is my duty to use with 
moderation, urbanity and charity. In sitting 
down to this task, I felt some reluctance, from 
the general respect which I bear to your cha- 
racter, both literary and personal ; and I here 
declare that respect to have been considerably 
increased during the progress of the work from 
the various productions of your pen which I 
have read, and read in general with admiration. 
The reception which this work may meet 
from you and from the world, is as yet unknown. 
I have mentioned this subject at the conclusion 
of my Vth Letter, but, since that was written, 
my attention has been directed to the example 
of the Poet Spenser, who having in the early 
part of his life written two Hymns in Honour of 
Love and of Beauty, and, as he advanced in 
years, thinking them calculated to do hurt, he 
published two others to counteract their effects. 
Though I do not consider even these two as 
unexceptionable, yet the example of a writer 
endeavouring to repair any damage his writings 
may have done is highly commendable and 
Qq 



446 LETTER VIII. 

worthy of imitation.* His ideas upon the 
subject are expressed in his Dedication of 
them — 

" To the Right Honourable and most Virtuous 
Ladies, the Lady Margaret, Countess of 
Cumberland, and the Ladj/ Mary, 
Countess of Warwick. 
Having in the greener times of my Youth, 
composed these former two Hymns in the 
praise of Love and Beauty, and finding that 
the same too much pleased those of Like Age 
and Disposition, which being too vehemently 
carried with that kind of affection, do rather 
suck out poison to their strong passion, than 
honey to their honest delight ; I was moved by 
the one of you two most excellent Ladies, to call 
in the same. But being unable so to do, by 
reason that many Copies thereof were formerly 
scattered abroad, I resolved at least to amend, 
and by way of retractation to reform them, making 
(instead of those two Hymns of earthly or 
natural Love and Beauty) two others, of hea- 
venly and celestial. The which I do dedicate 



* More may be seen on this subject in the Notes to my Dis- 
courses on the Stage, p. 2J1, &c. 



SACRED SONGS. 447 

joyntly unto you two honourable sisters, as to 
the most excellent and rare ornaments of all true 
Love and Beauty, both in the one and the other 
kind : humbly beseeching you to vouchsafe the 
Patronage of them, and to accept this my 
humble service, in lieu of the great graces and 
honourable favours which ye daily shew unto 
me, until such time as I may by better means, 
yield you some more notable testimony of my 
thankful mind and dutiful happiness. And 
even so I pray for your happiness. 

Your Honours most bounden ever 
in all Humble Service, 

Edm. Spenser." 
Greenwich, this first of 
September, 1596. 

But, Sir, whatever may be the reception of 
this work, I have at least this satisfaction to 
derive from it, that I have been pursuing a sub- 
ject, which I had before taken up from a due 
consideration of its importance. And of the 
satisfaction to be derived from a consciousness 
of having been discharging my duty, neither 
neglect nor obloquy can (it is hoped) deprive me ; 
nor, I trust, should I be so fortunate as to be 
received with favour, shall I be unduly elated 
by success. 



448 LETTER VIII. 

With sentiments of great respect and esteem, 
and with sincere wishes for your health and 
prosperity, 

I am, Sir, 

Your obedient humble Servant, 

JAMES PLUMPTRE. 



449 



INDEX I. 

TO THE SONGS QUOTED OR CRITICIZED IN THIS VOLUME 
ACCORDING TO THEIR FIRST LINES. 



N. B. By means of this Index the Reader may ascertain 
whether any Song in any other Collection is noticed in this 
work ; and any Reader not possessed of either of Dr. Aikin's 
Publications will probably find many of the Songs here noticed, 
by referring to the Indexes of any other Collections of Songs 
which he may have. 



Page. 

A Blacksmith you'll own is so clever - - 372 

A Chieftain to the Highlands bound - - 332 

A Cohler there was and he liv'd in a stall - - 352 
A courting I went to my love (No. 9. p. 39. Humphry 

Gubbin's Courtship) 351 

A dawn of hope my soul revives - 353 

Adieu to the village delights - - 339 

Ah! cruel maid, how hast thou chang'd - - 331 

Ah! tell me not that jealous fear - - - 244 

Ah ! tell me no more, my dear girl, with a sigh - 247 

Ah ! the Shepherd's mournful fate - s - 235 

Ah! why must words my flame reveal - - 356 

Alexis shunn'd his fellow swains - 53 

All in the Downs the fleet was moor'd 46 

All my past life is mine no more - 268 

An amorous Swain to Juno prny'd - 279 

Anna, thy charms my bosom fire - 340 

A nymph of ev'ry charm possess'd - 332 

A plant there's in my garden grows (The Onion) - 404 
A poor soul sat sighing under a Sicamore tree (No. 8. 

p. 7.) 33S.341 

Qq2 



450 INDEX I. 

Page, 

A rose had been wash'd, just wash'd in a shower - 102 

As Ariana, young and fair - - - - 280 
Ask'st thou how long my Jove will stay - 331. 340 

As on a summer's day .... 52 

Ask if yon damask rose be sweet ... 334. 

As near a weeping spring reclin'd ... 243 
Aspasia rolls her sparkling eyes - - 280. 384 

As pensive Chloe walk'd alone ... 350 

At Cynthia's feet I sigh'd, I pray'd - - 280 

At morn and eve to thee I pray ... 357 

Ave Maria! maiden mild, (Hymn to the Virgin) - 357 

Awake, awake, my lyre .... 262 

Away, let nought to love displeasing - - 256 

Away with these self-loving lads ... 329 

A wretch long tortur'd with disdain ... 263 

Be it right or wrong, these men among - - 342 

Bid me when forty winters more - - - 277 
Blest as the immortal gods is he - - 234. 340. 355 

Boast not, mistaken swain, thy art - - 261 

Born in yon blaze of orient sky ... 105 

Bow the head, thou lily fair 280 

Busy, curious, thirsty fly ! ... 194 

By the gaily circling glass ... - 193 

Can love be controled by advice ... 254 

Can loving father ever prove ... 252 

Cease, rude Boreas, blustering railer - - 357 

Celia hoard thy charms no more - - - 271 

Celia too late you would repent ... 271 

Chloe brisk and gay appears - - - 271 

Chloe's the wonder of her sex ... §69 

Chloris, yourself you so excel - - - 274 

Come, all ye youths whose hearts e'er bled - 250 

Come, dear Amanda, quit the town - - 100 

Come, gentle god of soft repose - - - 280 



INDEX I. 



451 



Page. 

Come here, fond youth, whoe'er thou be - 240. 338 

Come, let us now resolve at last - - 250 

Come, little infant, love me now - - 280 

Come live with me and be my love - - 332 

Come Shepherds we'll follow the hearse - 56 

Come tell me where the maid is found - 273 

Come, thou rosy-dimpled boy, (Valentine's Day J 245 

Corinna cost me many a prayer - - 267 

Crabbed age and youth - - - 341 

Cries Damon, teiz'd by dearest life - - 351 

Cruel invader of my rest - 335 

Cynthia frowns whene'er I woo her - 263 

Daddy Neptune one day, (The Tight Little Island) 404 

Damon, if you will believe me 265 

Daphnis stood pensive in the shade 53 

Dear Chloe, what means this disdain - - 333 

Dear Chloe, while thus beyond measure - 255 

Dear Colin, prevent my warm blushes - 266 

Dear is my little native vale - - 100 

Despairing beside a clear stream - - 51. 339 

Dorinda's sparkling wit and eyes - - 264 

Dried be that tear, my gentlest love - 244 

Drink to me only with thine eyes - - 328. 356 

Drunk as a dragon sure is he - - 358 



Echo, tell me whilst I wander 
Encompass'd in an angel's frame 



356 
335. 338 



Fair Amoret is gone astray - - 264 

Fair, and soft, and gay, and young - - 253 

Far in the windings of a vale, (Edwin and Emma) 62 

Fickle bliss, fantastic treasure - - 261 

Five thousand years have roll'd away - 352 

Fly, thoughtless youth, th' enchantress fly - 277 

Forever, Fortune, will thou prove - - 255. 356 



45£ INDEX I. 

Page. 

Forgive, ye fair, nor take it wrong - - 351 

From all uneasy passions free - 250 

From anxious zeal and factious strife - 333 

From place to place, forlorn, I go - 251 

From thee, Eliza, I must go - - 339. 353 

From the white-blossonTd sloe - - 356 

Gentle air, thou breath of lovers - - 260 

Give me more love or more disdain - - 264 

Goe, soule, the bodies guest - - 343 

Go, lovely rose ! - - - - 268 

Good madam, when ladies are willing - 266 

Go, tell Amynta, gentle swain - - 237 

Hail to the myrtle shade - 248 

Hard is the fate of him who loves - - 241 

Hark, hark, 'tis a voice from the tomb- - 332 

Heaven's gifts are unequal in this world awarded, 

(Roman Veteran) - 31.405. 

He that loves'a rosy cheek - 259 

He was fam'd for deeds of arms . - - 359 

How blest has my time been - - 330 

How bright the sun's declining rays - - 257 

How long shall hapless Colin mourn - 339 

How stands the glass around - - 358. 359 

How sweet in the woodlands - - 355. 359 

How yonder ivy courts the oak - - 333 

I do confess thou'rt smooth and fair - - 262 

I envy not the proud their wealth - - 335 

If all the world and love were young - 332 

If ever thou didst joy r to bind - - 241 

If life like a bubble evaporates fast - 358 

If love and reason ne'er agree - - 258 

If truth can fix thy wavering heart - - 268 

If wine and music have the power • - 238 

I have a silent sorrow here - 251 



INDEX I. 453 

Pa?e. 

I mark'd lire madly-rolling eye - - 106 

In a cottage emhosom'd within a deep shade - 331 
In Bath a wanton wife did dwell - - 344. 357 

I ne'er could any lustre see - 333 

I never knew a sprightly fair - - 331 
In the down-hill of life when I find I'm declining, 

(To-morrow) 372 

In vain, dear Chloe, you suggest - - 274 

In vain, fond youth, thy tears give o'er - 256 

I talk'd to my fluttering heart - - 103 

I tell thee, Charmion, could I time retrieve - 265 

It is not, Celia, in our power ' - - 262 

It was a Friar of Orders Gray - - 57 

It was a winter's evening • 48 

John Bull for pastime took a prance, (Nongtongpaw) 31 

Late when love I seem'd to slight - - 404 

Lesbia, live to love and pleasure - - 245 

Let ambition fire thy mind - 101 

Let the ambitious favour find - - 249 

Lo qwhat it is to lufe ... 353 

Love and folly were at play - - 278 

Love arms himself in Celia's eyes - - 260 
Love's a dream of mighty treasure - - 269. 351 

Love's but the frailty of the mind - - 264 

Lucy I think not of thy beauty - - 102 

Mary I believ'd thee true ... 340 

Mihiest propositum in Taberna mori - 200 
Mistaken fair, lay Sherlock by - 279. 351. 357 
Mirth be thy mingled pleasures mine, (Anacreontic 

Glee) --- - 201 

Mortals learn your lives to measure - 190 
My banks they are furnish'd with bees, (Pastoral 

Ballad) - 55 

My dear mistress has a heart * - 249 



454 index i. 

Page;, 

My friends all' declare that my time is mispent - 355 

My love was fickle once aDd changing - 261 

My sheep I neglected, I broke my sheep-hook - 330 

My temples with clusters of grapes I'll entwine - 334 

My time, O ye muses, was happily spent • 330 

No glory I covet, no riches I want - 99. 351 

No ro^re my song shall be,, ye swains - 356 

Not, Celia, that 1 juster am - 262. 351 

Not on beds of fading flowers - - 100 

Now see my goddess earthy born - • 246 

Now spring returns but not to me returns - 353 

© clear that cruel doubting brow ! - - 270. 356 

O'er moorlands and mountains, (Content) - 56 

Of all the girls that are so smart - - 331 

Of all the trades I e'er did see, (Blacksmith) - 372' 

Of Leinster fam'd for maidens fair, (Colin and Lucy) 5§ ; 

Oft on the troubled ocean's face - - 250 

Oil f Henry, sure by every art - - 257 

O hone a rie'f O bone a rie'! (Lord Ronald) 29. 58 

Ob ! how could I venture to luve ane like thee 339 

Oh ! how vain is ev'ry blessing - - 335 

Oh ! what a pain it is to love - - 357 

Oh ! what is the gain of restless care - - 100 
Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes! Lost or mislaid, (Towncrier) 399 

Oh ! young Lochinvar is come out of the west 50 

O memory thou fond deceiver - - 101 

On a bank beside a willow - - 277 

O Nancy wilt thou go with me 256 

On Belvidera's bosom lying - - 261 

On every hill, in every grove - - 237 

One morning very early, (Maid in Bedlam) * 47. 339 

One parting kiss my Etheliude - - 280 

On Richmond hill there lives a lass - - 339 

Our vicar still preaches, (Soldier's Song) Note - 190 



INDEX I. 455 

Page. 

Pain'd with her slighting Jamie's love - 354 

Preach not me your musty rules - - J92 

Prepar'd to rail, resolv'd to part - - 250 

Pretty parrot, say, when I was away - 269 

Pursuing beauty, men descry - - 273 

Round Love's Elysian bowers - - 260 

Say, lovely dream, where could'st thou find - 271 

Say, Myra, why is gentle love - . 262 

Says Plato, why should man be vain - 334 

Say, sweet carol ! who are they > - 105 

Shall I wasting in despair - . 262. 343 

She loves and she confesses too - . 271 

Should some perverse malignant star . 274 

Sigh no more ladies - 39g 

Soft Zephyr on thy balmy wing - - 338 

Standing one summer day on the Tower Slip, (Margate 

Hoy) - 30A 

Stella and Flavia every hour - - 274 

Still to be neat, stiil to be drest - - 260 

Strep hon has fashion, wit and youth - 26 L 

Strephon when you see me fly - . 245 

Swain, thy hopeless passion smother - 269 

Sweet are the charms of her I love - - 329 

Sweet maid, if thou wouldst charm my sight - 334 

Sweet maid, I hear thy frequent sigh - 243 

Take, oh take those lips away - - 267 

Tell me no more how fair she is 120 

Tell me no more I am deceived - . 275. 404 

Tell me no more of pointed darts - - 335 

Tell me not I my time misspend - - 278 

Tell my Strephon that I die - - 251 

That which her slender waist confin'd (Lady's Girdle) 267 
The Auctioneer mounts, and, first hawing and hemming 399 

The gloomy night is gathering fast - - 103 



456 



INDEX I, 



Page. 

The Graces and the wandering Loves - 260 

The heavy hours are almost past - - 238 

The merchant to secure his treasure - - 355 

The lawland lads think they are fine, (No. xi. p. 44.) 357 

The moon had climb'd the highest hill - 353 

The Ploughman whistles o'er the furrow - 31. 80 

There is one dark and sullen hour - - 252 

There was a jolly miller once - - 352 

The rose had been wash'd - 102 

The shape alone let others prize - - 248 

The sunsets in night, and the stars shun the day - 353 

The sun was sunk beneath the hill 54 

The sweet-briar grows in the merry green wood, (The 

Mulberry Tree) 372 

The tears I shed must ever fall - - 241 

The thirsty earth drinks up the rain - - 197 

The wanton troopers riding by - - 344 

The western sky was purpled o'er - - 64 

The wretch condemn'd with life to part - 301 

The wretch O let me never know - - 256 

Think no more, my gentle maid - - 255 

Tho' Bacchus may boast of his care-killing bowl 358 

Tho' cruel you seem to my pain - - 253 

Thro' groves sequester'd, dark and still ' - £9 

Thy fatal shafts unerring move - - 235 

Time has not thin'd my flowing hair - - 351 

'Tis now since I sat down before - - 271 

To all you ladies now at land - - 331 

To fair Fidele's grassy tomb - - 104 

To him who in an hour must die - - 340 

Tom Tackle was noble was true to his word - 31 

Too plain, dear Youth, these tell tale eyes - 244 

To reason, ye fair ones, assert your pretence - 248 

To the brook and the v. illow that heard him complain 52 

Turn gentle Hermit of the dale - 57 
'T was post meridian, half-past four, ( Sailor's Journal) 47. 31 

'Twas when the seas were roaring 45 

'Twas in that season of the year - - 338 



INDEX I. 



457 



Vain are the charms of white and red 



Page. 
271 



Waft me, some soft and cooling breeze 100. 104, Nole 

We .ill to conquering beauty bow - 330 

What beauties does Flora disclose (Tweedside) - 55 

What dreaming drone was ever blest - 105 

What man in his wits had not rather be poor - 99 

What shade and what stillness around - 252, 340 
When all was wrapt in dark midnight, (William and 

Margaret) - . - - 59 

Whence comes my love, O heart disclose - 260 

Wlu*n charming Teraminta sings - - 249 

When clouds that angel face deform - - 261. 351 

When daisies pied and violets blue - - 32/ 

When Damon languish'd at my feet - - 333 

When Delia on the plain appears - - 239 

Whene'er with haggard eyes I view - 405 

When Fanny, blooming fair - - 246 

When first I dar'd by soft surprise - - 331 

When first I saw Lucrnda's face - - 280 

When first I sought fair Celia's love - - 267 

When first upon your tender cheek - - 259 

When gentle Celia first I knew - - 257 

When here Lucinda first we came - - 277 

When I drain the rosy bowl - - 194 

When lovely woman stoops to folly - 102 

When Orpheus went down to the regions below 270. 351 

When princely Hamilton's abode, (Cadyow Castle) 29. 53 

When Sappho tun'd the raptur'd strain - 249 

When the sheep are in the fold, (Old Robin Gray) 36. 50 

When your beauty appears - - 254 

Where the bee sucks, there lurk I - - 327 

While from my looks, fair nymph, you guess - 238 

While in the bower with beauty blest - 249 

While Strephon in the pride of youth - 263 

While, Strephon, thus you teaze me - - 248 
R X 



458 INDEX I. 

Page. 

Who would true valour see - 406 

Why, cruel creature, why so bent - - 255 

Why, Delia, ever while I gaze - - 237 

Why heaves my fond bosom ! ah, what can it mean 333 

Why so pale and wan, fond lover - - 260. 351 

Why we love, and why we hate - - 265 

Why will Delia thus retire - - 270 

Why will Florella while I gaze - - . 274 

Why will you my passion reprove, (Pastoral Ballad) 55 

Wine does wonders every day - - 358 

Wine, wine in the morning - - 200 

Woman, thoughtless, giddy creature - - 263 

Wouldst thou know her sacred charms - 248 

Would you taste the noontide air - - 331 

Wrong not, sweet mistress of my heart - 328 

i 

Ye belles and ye flirts, and ye pert little things - 355 

Ye gentil 'squires give o'er your sighs - 352 

Ye happy swains, whose hearts are free - 254.350 

Ye mariners of England - 106 

Yes fairest proof of beauty's power - 237 

Yes, Fortune, I have sought thee long - 352 

Ye shepherds and nymphs that adorn the gay plain 254 

Ye 6hepherdsgive ear to my lay, (Pastoral Ballad) 55 

Ye shepherds so cheerful and gay, (Pastoral Ballad) 55 

Ye virgin powers, defend my heart - - 261. 350 

Young I am, and yet unskilled - - 261 

Young Jocky he courted sweet Mog the Brunette 352 

You tell me I'm handsome - - • - 332 

Yoa tell me that you truly love - ■? 240 



459 



INDEX II. 

TO THE SONGS AND EPIGRAMS INTRODUCED IN THIS VOLUME 
ACCORDING TO THEIR FIRST LINES. 



N. B. The Epigrams have (Ep.) after the first line. 



Page. 

A Companion I have, nay 1*11 call him a friend 143 

A friendship that in frequent fits - - 386 

Ah, silly, vain and buzzing fly 171 

A Singing Man, and cannot sing ! (Ep.) - 364 

As Quin and Foote one day walk'd out, (Ep.) - 363 

Attend my precepts, thoughtless Youths - 124 

A voyage over seas had not enter'd my head - 371 

A Wife domestic, good and pure - - 377 

Beauty is but a fading flower - - 295 

Before Jehovah's awful throne - - 440 

Behold where breathing love divine - - 425 

Behold yon cottage in the vale - - 85 

Beware the fond delusion - 286 

Britons, your voices raise - 418 

By day when the sun in his bright glory glows - - 149 

Clodio, they say, has wit ; for what? (Ep.) - 368 

Come, Disappointment, come! - — 111 

Come hither, sweet Susan, and by me sit down 311 

Come hither, sweet Susan, and sit by my side - 313 

Come, oh come, delightful guest - - 213 

Could a man be secure - - - 214 

Oould I a thousand sceptres sway - •• 308 



460 INDEX II. 

Doctor, your Epigram is true, (Ep.) - 365 

Dreary Winter o'er the plain - - 175 

Echo ! tell me while I wander - - 378 

E'en in the midst of life and hope - - 427 

Eternal Power ! whose high ahode - - 443 

Exulting in strength, how majestic's the horse - 159 

Father of all! be thou alone - - 441 

For alms and compassion a widow was fam'd 391 

Forbid it, Heaven, that e'er I eat - - 108 

For physic and farces, (Ep.) - - 404 

From arms discharg'd the listed swain - 92 

Go, daughters of fashion, for pleasure repine - 303 

Go, traverse the field and the grove * 119 

Hall says he's poor in hopes you'll say he's not, (Ep.) 367 

Happy «he man who far from pubiic view - i'O 

Have you seen the delightless abode - 126 

How bright with pearl the western sky - 297 

How high our sanguine hopes we raise - 109 

How sweet to the heart is the thought of to-morrow 114 

Hush'd was the storm, the fleet unmoor'd - 65 

I am unable, yonder Beggar cries, (Ep.) - 366 

If e"er a Patron I shall find - - 120 

If I live to grow old, for I find I go down - 12S 

If Love and Reason ne'er agree - - 259 

If the stock of our bliss is in stranger hands vested 315 

If 'tis true as you say that I've injur'd a letter, (Ep.) 365 

I have a Cottage in the glen 86 

In days of frolic, mirth and fun, (Ep.) - 365 

In many a storm and many a fight - - 145 

In native worth and honour clad - - 282 

In peace Love tunes the Shepherd's reed - 285 

Inspir'd by so grateful a duty - - 136 



INDEX II. 461 

Page. 

In temperance traiu'd, yet I shun not the board - 202 

In the town, or in barracks, in camp, or the field 152 

I once was a maiden, ah, blest was the day ! when 299 

I saw a dew drop, cold and clear - - 138 

I told you Mary, told you true - - 319 

Jack his own merit sees. This gives him pride, (Ep.) 368 

Johnny's left me for a while - - 305 

Let care be a stranger to each cheerful soul ~ 206 

Little candle snuff 'd too low; - - 389 

Live whilst you live, the Epicure will say, (Ep.) 191 

Long tix'd in this rural retreat - - 413 

Lo ! where the party-giving dames - • 375 

Mighty God ! while Angels bless thee -. 437 

Mistaken youth, lay Stanhope by - 279 

'Mong Scotia's glens and mountains blue - 154 

Music's the language of the blest above - 180 

My due a noble nation pays - 147 

My Husband, O my Dear, John - - 321 

No claim upon an honest heart - - 288 

No joy or grief can in this life - - 306 

No longer the Negrns complain - - 178 

No riches from his scanty store - - 287 

No, Varus hates a thing that's base, (Ep.) - 368 

Now, tell me, artist, can she love - - 383 

Now we're launch'd on the world - - 211 

O Britain, my country, thou queen of the isles 155 

O'er my toil-wither'd limbs sickly languors are shed 177 

O for evening's brownest shade - - 422 

Oh, God of comfort, deign - 419 

Of horns and of echoes, that thro' the wood ring 165 

itr2 



462 INDEX n . 

Page. 

One day Good-bye and How-d'ye-do - 380 

One day in Christ-Church meadows walking, (Ep.) 359 
On the sea-shore one day as two friends were a walking 394 

O Thou, whose glory shines sublime -' t - 433 

O wae to the wearifu' driukin', O, - 217 

Pass by a tavern door, my son 21 

Reader, beware immoderate love of pelf, (Ep,) 369 

Said a Smile to a Tear ... 137 

Say, mighty love, and aid my song - - 309 

Say, Stella, feel you no content - - 242 

Say what are the pleasures which nine can impart 216 

Sfnce Zephyrus first tasted the charms of coy Flora 162 

Sound, lute, the sweet concords of praise - 416 

Sweet is the scene when virtue dies - - 429 

Sweet vine, whose curling tendrils cling , - 139 

That day of wrath, that dreadful day - - 439 

The Bard, who glows with Grub-street fire - 373 

The Barleycorns throughout our isle - 72 

The breeze was fresh, the ship in stays - 70 

The bugle sounds, the archers all - - 169 

The Love that looks to present joy - - 289 

The night is come like to the day - - 432 

The night was dark, and awful was the scene - 68 

The Peasant's blest who in his cot 78 

The Ploughman whistles o'er the furrow - 80 

The Pride of the Village young William was seen 82 

The Scene was more beautiful far to ihe eye - 148 

The sea, as its waves after waves loudly roll - 1 72 

The sun was departed, the mild zephyr blowing 116 

The sweet-briar, the suckling, the jasmine and rose 140 



INDEX II, 463 

Page. 

The twentieth year is well nigh past - - 324 
The verses, friend, which thou hast read are mine, (Ep.,) 368 

The weather, the land, and all those that dwell in it 134 

Tlio' beauty shone in Mary's face - - 300 

Tho' Fame sound the trumpet, and cry to the war 210 

Tho' hot was the sun in the morn when he rose 145 

Tho' the great man, his treasures possessing - 132 

Thy nags, the leanest things alive, (Ep.) - 36S 

Thy sacred sweets, Connubial-Love - - 288 

To John I ow'd great obligation, (Ep.) - 367 

Tom ever jovial, ever gay, (Ep.) - - 368 
Tom's ccach and six ! Whither in such haste going ? (Ep.) 367 

To rival the miser who broods o'er his plum - 208 

True Love's the gift which God has given - 285 

What's sweeter than the new-blown rose - 285 

When Britain's isle, untaught to fear - 167 

When, dumb, beneath the shearer's hand - 435 

When Friendship, Love and Truth abound - 219 
When I told you j our cheeks wore the blush of the rose 318 

When I was joungand debonair, (Ep.) - 365 
When Jack was poor, the lad was frank and free, (Ep.) 366 

When morning first opened her dew-dripping eye 84 

When rising from the bed of death - - 430 

When the vocal cuckoo wings - - 118 

When the \\ ise-ones incline t' examine the sun - 384 

Where is this stupendous stranger - - 436 

Who, in this world of care and strife - - 283 

Who shall a virtuous female gaiti - - 293 

Winter has a joy for me - 421 

With joy the parent lo?es to trace -' - 308 

With us alike each season suits - - 91 

Ye Christians, who dwell in Britannia's fair isle 411 

Ye Fair, who would a partner chuse - - 290 



464 INDEX II. 

Page. 

Ye jovial sons of mirth and glee i - 204 

Ye minor beauties of the night - 302 

Yesterday ! thy motley fate «» - 379 

Ye Virgins and Youths of the plain - - 107 

You are old, father William, the young man cried 130 

You ask me the secret by which we contrive - 396 

Young Courtly takes me for a dunce, (Ep.) - 367 



465 



INDEX III. 

TO THE NAMES OF AUTHORS, 

WITH REFERENCES TO THEIR SONGS AND EPIGRAMS 
INTRODUCED IN THIS VOLUME. 



Adams, Dr. 


. 


- 




, 




rage 

441 


Addison, Joseph 


- 


- 




- 




430 


Barbauld, Mrs. 


. 


_ 




. 




425 


Banks 


- 


- " 




- 




367 


Bloomfield, Nathaniel 


- 


. 




- 




126 


Robert 


- 


- 




- 




297 


B., H. K. 


- 


. 




. 




239 


B„ J. 


- 


- 




- 




319 


Brown, Isaac Hawkins 


- 


- 




- 




365 


Brown, Sir Thomas 


- 


- 




- 




432 


Buckle, the Rev. C. 


- 


- 




204.311 


.313 


Cibber, Colley, 


. 


. 








92 


Cobb, James 


- 


- 




- 




147 


Collins, John 


- 


i - 




- 


•211 


,373 


Colman, George, The Younger 


- 




- 




371 


Cottle, Joseph 


- 


-- 




- 




132 


Cotton, Dr. Nathaniel 


- 


- 




- 




124 


Cowper, William 


- 


- 


302 


324 


3S6 


.421 


Dalrymple, Lt. Col. James 




- 




- 




384 


Dibdin, Charles 


- 


70. 80. 134 


136. 


162. 165. 


318. 


Donne, Dr. 


- 


- 




- 




366 


Francis, Aune 


« 


_ 




413.416 


418 



400 INDEX 


III. 








- 


Pa^e, 


Garrick, David 


- 


- 


366. 404 


Gay, Jobn 


. 


. 


368 


Gooch, Dr. 


•- 


» 


365 


Gould, Dr. 


. 


«, 


365 


Greaves, Rev. T. B. 


- 


, - 


145 


Hackett, 


. 


. 


366 


Halloran, Dr. 


- 


•- 


145 


Hogg, James 


- 


154. 217 433 


Holloway, William 


- 


84.86,89.139.186.427. 


Hull, Thomas 


- 


- 


'119 


Kenney, James 


- 


- 


137 


Lamb, Mr. James 


» 


• 


68 


Lemon, G. W. Jua, 


. 


» 


419 


Lloyd, Robert 


- 


- 


308 


Martial, 


. 


« 


367. 368 


Miller, The Rev. James 


- 


. 


286 


Montgomery, James 


- 


, - • 


219. 422 


Oakman, J. 


. 


. 


107 


O'Keefe, John 


- 


- 


210 


Owen, The Rev. John 


- 


- 


375 


Plumptre, Rev. James ' 


n. 82. 


128.140.143.155. 


159.171. 


- 


- 


172. 178. 202. 


321. 435. 


Pope, Dr. Walter, 


- 


- 


128 


Pratt, Mr. 


- 


- 


288. 308 


Prior, Matthew 


• 


- 


367. 368 


Relph, Rev. Josiah 


. 


- 


368 


Richardson, Charlotte 


- 


290 


. 293. 295 


Richmond, The Rev. Leigh 




. 


411 


'Scott, Thomas 


„ 


„ 


108. 109 


Scott, Dr. 


- 


- 


213 



INDEX III. 






467 


• 






Page. 


Scott, Walter 


- 


285 


285. 439 


Skeffington, Luraley St. George 


- 


- 


286 


Sleath, Mrs. 


- 


- 


65 


Smart, Christopher 


- 


- 


436 


Southey, Robert 


- 


- 


130 


Spencer, Hon. Wm. Robert 


- 




315. 380 


Swift, Jonathan, D. D. 


- 


- 


242 


Watts, Isaac, D. D. 


-. 


. 


309. 443 


West, Mrs. 


- 


- 


303 


White, Henry Kirke 


- 


- 


111 


Whitefield, The Rev. George 


- 


- 


440 


Williams, Miss - - 


- 


- 


287 


Wither, George 


- 


- 


306 


W. J. 


- 


- 


80 



468 



BOOKS PUBLISHED, 

BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 

AND SOLD BY MESSRS. RIVINGTONS, &c. 



1. A Collection of Songs, Moral, Sentimental, 
Instructive, and Amusing, in One Folttme, small 4lo. 
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4t>9 



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S s 



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471 



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472 
PROPOSALS 

FOR PUBLISHING BY SUBSCRIPTION, 
A WORK TO BE ENTITLED 

THE ENGLISH DRAMA PURIFIED : 

BEING A SPECIMEN OF 

ENGLISH PLAYS, 

IN WHICH ALL THE PASSAGES OBJECTIONABLE IN POINT 
OF MORALITY, ARE OMITTED OR ALTERED. 

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be paid on the delivery of the work. 

These volumes will contain the following Flays: — 



Tragedies : The Gamester, Jane Shore, George 
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The Provok'd Husband, The Conscious Lovers, A 
Word to the Wise, The Gooilnatur'd Man, The 
Clandestine Marriage. —Opera and After-pieces: 
Lionel and Clarissa, The King and Miller of Mansfield, 
The Toy-shop, Barataria, and Rosina, 



WITH PREFACES AND NOTES 

By JAMES PLUMPTRE, B. D. 

FELLOW OF CLARE HALL, CAMBRIDGE. 



The work will be sent to the press as soon as the 
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